Slowly but surely, the future of recycling on the Coast is inching towards a consensus, as the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) gears up for the second and final set of public open houses on June 21.
A special meeting of the infrastructure services committee received a report yesterday (June 12), after Coast Reporter's deadline, outlining the preferred option produced from the four options mulled over by the recycling review's 12-member steering committee and environmental consultants Gartner Lee over the past several months. (The hastily scheduled session was moved up from its original date of June 19 because Gartner Lee's lead consultant is slated to leave their position today.) Despite the breadth of options being considered, one independent recycler on the Coast remains convinced these will not bring about any sustainable change. Buddy Boyd, owner of the Gibsons Recycling Depot, contends that only a privately-operated recycling service can provide an ethical and sustainable service.
Boyd, who says his depot on Venture Way in Gibsons is the only private, non-government contract depot in B.C., believes the options laid out by the SCRD are too vague, allowing too much room for interpretation.
"What we're dealing with here is terminology," he said. "For example, curbside pickup can mean either sort-at-the-curb pick up, with a compartmentalized truck, or single stream pickup."
Boyd said single-stream pickup results in a co-mingled, contaminated product, of a lower quality than that produced by hand sorting at the curb. While the SCRD currently uses a depot system of pre-sorted products, manager of sustainability Dion Whyte said Direct Disposal in Sechelt reports earning a high return on their single-stream product, which they collect at the curbside through the District of Sechelt's recycling program.
The four options laid out each take into account overall greenhouse gas emissions and economic benefits, said Whyte, though he wasn't able to release those numbers to Coast Reporter. The regional district is obliged under its solid waste program to ensure a viable recycling program exists on the Coast, he said. After an option is picked, Whyte said it's likely an open tender will be offered to provide contractors to carry out the service. The steering committee has outlined four options to improve the system. Option A means continuing with the status quo: a system of depots, with minor improvements. Option B would mean the addition of an unstaffed depot near the Langdale ferry terminal for the use of island residents, an overall increase in the variety of materials to be taken in at each depot, and using private contractors to run those depots.
The remaining two options incorporate curbside pickup, without specifying whether pre-sorting or single stream would be considered. Along with expanded depots, option C would have the SCRD add user-paid curbside collection for those homes already getting garbage pick-up. Option D features beefed-up regional depots combined with municipal curbside collection. Under this plan, Sechelt would keep its curbside collection intact, the Town of Gibsons would start a curbisde collection, and SCRD areas would remain dependant upon depots. The three separate open houses will be held in Madeira Park, Sechelt, and Gibsons on Saturday, June 21. Whyte said he hopes they'll see greater attendance than the May 10 open houses did.
"This is another chance for the public to have some say in the process," he said.
Though Boyd is skeptical about the likelihood of a good turnout, he too hopes to see people come out. "The larger the turnout, the greater the chance we're going to get an ethical, sustainable recycling service," he said.
