Five months after the Sunshine Coast Recycling and Processing Society went bankrupt, the Sunshine Coast Regional District can't decide how to replace the recycling service SCRAPS used to provide.
On March 19, at a special infrastructure services committee meeting, the SCRD considered four recycling proposals, including one from its own staff. But directors judged all the proposals to be seriously flawed and could not agree on what to do next.
The SCRD's in-house proposal had the lowest price tag, at $24,500 a month, partly because the regional district could build a recycling depot and warehouse at the Sechelt dump and thus avoid the cost of land. But several regional directors questioned whether that figure was realistic.
"The way a bid analysis is normally done is to take out the high bid and the low bid," said John Rees, Pender Harbour director. "I'm concerned about how low [the SCRD bid] is, compared to the other two outside operators."
The monthly costs from the other bidders ranged from $28,600 from Alpine Disposal & Recycling, which proposed to ship the Sunshine Coast's recyclables to its plant in Victoria for processing, to $41,533 from Coastline Recycling, a local company, which proposed operating two staffed depots in Sechelt and Gibsons built of recycled materials. Dawson Construction Ltd. bid $45,167 for a system similar to the SCRD proposal. All the proposals included six or more unmanned drop-off depots at various locations.
SCRAPS operated two staffed depots for $17,200 a month until the society went into receivership last October. SCRD staff could not say how much the present, temporary recycling depots cost.
Gibsons Mayor Barry Janyk threatened to withdraw his town's support for regional recycling if there is no full-time, staffed recycling depot in Gibsons.
The SCRD issued a request for proposals for recycling in January, requesting two staffed recycling depots. But in a later addendum, the SCRD told the bidders they could provide just one staffed depot, and all but Coastline went for that lower-cost option. The SCRD's staffed depot would be located at the dump.
Janyk was furious that addendum went out without his knowledge.
"The reduction in service is completely and totally unacceptable," said Janyk. "An unmanned depot is not good enough. We don't want to play in this sandbox if this is the way it's going to be."
