Editor:
On Aug. 1, Sechelt council passed bylaw 486 prohibiting open air burning for the purpose of land clearing. After Jan. 1, 2014, residents can no longer burn and will have to use other methods, such as chipping, to dispose of the wastes from land clearing.
Many children, adults and elderly residents with respiratory illnesses, including asthma, have suffered when smoke hung in the air for sometimes days. Passage of this bylaw is good for obvious health reasons.
Previously there was a 100 per cent ban on backyard burning. This new bylaw opens a window from Oct. 15 to 31 where residents can burn backyard wastes though not toxic materials like rubber tires, tar, asphalt, batteries, electrical wire insulation, plastics, fuel and lubricant containers, animal waste, and all similar substances that produce heavy black smoke. It's also illegal to burn garbage, construction waste, or demolition waste.
This is a two-year pilot program during which time the District plans to conduct an education campaign to encourage residents to take backyard wastes to the landfill for free, use chipping, and learn to compost and mulch. The goal is to reduce and eliminate backyard burning as people learn alternatives to burning.
Campfires are OK if they are no more than one metre in height and one metre in diameter, do not create a smoke or spark nuisance to a neighbor, or do not contravene and federal, provincial or fire department regulations. For example, under dry conditions there can be a provincial ban on all campfires.
Nothing in this bylaw precludes residents from using non-burning methods, such as chipping, right away. Some have already done so. Hopefully more will do so.
The health benefits are substantial; and health costs, paid by all of us, are reduced.
Elizabeth McNeill
S.C. Clean Air Society
