Confidence is growing amongst Coastal officials around the possibility that both the zero waste management and economic development plans could be completed this year.
Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) board chair Garry Nohr said talks around both action plans are headed in a positive direction.
There have been few updates on the in-camera discussions surrounding the Coast's goal of moving towards zero waste, since officials met in April to discuss the latest funding challenges.
Recently the recycling bins, previously located off of Ti'Ta Way near Highway 101, were moved to a new location to "the old trailer park" at 5600 Highway 101, across from McDonald's in Sechelt.
According to Nohr and Sechelt Mayor John Henderson, another zero waste meeting is scheduled for July.
Nohr said his staff have been preparing another report for that meeting, one that will "reconfirm what has already been in public domain about the three resource centres."
It was also revealed that negotiations to secure an 18-month agreement with Gibsons Recycling are also proceeding, with hopes that the private contractor can help alleviate waste challenges on the Coast until a plan is in place.
"There's just a great many variables and those are things that the elected representatives and the staff are all addressing, but the complexity means that, naturally, it takes time," said Henderson.
Henderson said that an economic development plan is also progressing well, with current talks focused on the creation of a funding formula - "we've got to decide what are we going to do with the money and how are we going to do it," he said.
On April 2, Dion Whyte, manager of sustainable services with the SCRD, gave a presentation on zero waste to officials from the Town of Gibsons, SCRD, Sechelt Indian Band and District of Sechelt.
Once again local representatives were reminded of the costs that zero waste could represent, especially the closure of the Sechelt landfill. That facet of the plan has been given estimates as high as $17.3 million for closure. Rising tipping fees are expected to help offset that cost.
But as diversion rates at the landfill approach 60 to 70 per cent, the amount of funding collected from tipping fees is also expected to decline, putting more pressure on officials to develop a dependable funding approach.
"Figuring out what the best way to balance all of those things, that is our challenge," said Henderson.
