MIKE YOUDS
SPECIAL TO THE NEWS
Alberni Valley residents have had plenty to say about proposed organics waste collection in rural areas, feedback that goes before Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District (ACRD) directors on Feb. 24.
“We’re in the very initial phase of public consultation,” said Jodie Frank, ACRD organics co-ordinator. “Basically, we’re trying to gauge where each electoral area is at,” she added.
At this stage, ACRD staff are compiling results of open houses and an online resident survey conducted in January.
Misconceptions about the process surfaced during engagement, including a rumour that the regional district has already decided to go with three-stream waste collection in rural areas. That is not the case, Frank stressed. The same rumour pops up among comments on an ACRD web page, Considering Curbside Collection.
“We will take the report to the board and they will discuss the options,” Frank said. Analysis of the data will help determine next steps. “There could be further public consultation depending on the outcome of survey results.”
The regional organics diversion program had its inception five years ago with the ACRD receiving $6-million in capital funding through a federal gas-tax grant. With the overall goal of meeting provincial waste diversion goals, the ACRD proposes landfill changes that may soon include banning organics.
Extending three-stream collection to rural areas would support that transition. The idea behind community engagement is to ensure fairness, extending equivalent service to all electoral areas if they so choose, Frank said.
Why is it important to remove organic materials from the landfill waste stream? Organic decomposition of kitchen and yard waste in landfills produces methane, a gas believed to be responsible for about one-third of global warming since the start of the industrial era.
There is a silver lining, though: compared with carbon dioxide, the other leading greenhouse gas, methane is much less persistent in the atmosphere, breaking down in about a decade. That’s why reducing methane emissions has come to be seen as a means of slowing global heating. A UN report last year called methane “the strongest lever we have to slow climate change over the next 25 years.”
City residents adopted the three-stream waste collection last fall and the same service rolls out on for Tofino and Ucluelet in November 2022.
If three-stream collection proceeds in rural Alberni Valley, about 3,000 rural residents would pay $250 a year for Sort ‘N Go bins. As with the city service, organics collection would be weekly while garbage and recycling collection alternate bi-weekly. Residents would not be allowed to opt out.
READ MORE: Organics collection to raise garbage fees in Port Alberni
Beyond that, a rural service might look quite different from its city counterpart, Frank suggested. Sproat Lake residents, for example, may have preferences different from those in Cherry Creek.
“The city has its own collection system in place. That was an easy transition,” she noted.
ACRD wants to dispel another misconception, concerns raised about taking business away from local haulers. As it stands, curbside collection is contracted to two haulers and the system is managed by the ACRD. The regional district is not going to take on collection on its own, Frank said.
“We’ve had a few conversations with local haulers,” Frank said. “Hypothetically, we would work with them and explore options.”
Beaver Creek’s Susan Roth was one of those convinced that compost collection is a “done deal.” People with larger rural properties often compost on their own as a practical necessity, she noted.
“I’m definitely not in favour of it,” Roth said. “That’s something we take care of quite well by ourselves.” She feels the question should be put to a referendum vote this fall.
She is not the only one. A petition signed by more than 280 ACRD residents was sent to ACRD board members earlier this month, asking for a referendum on the issue. Most of the comments attached to the petition state that residents already have their own waste collection and composting programs and would not use the service.
Out at Sproat Lake, Anna Lewis sees both sides of the issue. That would only stand to reason since she worked on the city’s introduction of three-stream waste and continues to be involved as a contractor, providing information through the city’s Let’s Connect webpages.
“From a resident’s perspective, given my background as a farmer, I compost,” she said, adding that the “black gold” never leaves her property. At the same time, long hilly driveways and limited snow clearing could present cart challenges.
“I can see the logistics would be very difficult, but I completely understand and support going through the consultation process,” Lewis said.
Naomi Nicholson, a Tseshaht First Nation resident, favours compost collection in rural areas while recognizing it would not be as straightforward for First Nations since they don’t have the same ability to raise funds through taxation. Both Tseshaht and Hupacasath have garbage collection and are included in the ACRD’s contracted bi-weekly curbside recycling collection, but kitchen compost still goes into the landfill.
READ MORE: Fees increased at Alberni Valley Landfill for the first time since 1995
“It’s amazing how much you can keep out of the landfill,” Nicholson said.
Landfill diversion is an issue much closer to home for Tseshaht.
“I know from community meetings that the community is concerned with the landfill because it does back directly onto the reserve and the landfill is still growing,” Nicholson said.
As a result, bears are more habituated to humans, absent the instinctive fear that generally keeps them at bay.
“The ACRD and city really do need to work with Tseshaht on this,” Nicholson said.
Frank indicated the ACRD has explored the possibility.
“We have, but the conversations with Tseshaht and Hupacasath are separate from the electoral areas,” she said. “We are going to continue those conversations because there is interest in landfill diversion in those communities.”
Meanwhile, city residents have made strides in just a few months, exceeding the target for organics diversion and keeping 690 tonnes of compost out of the landfill.
“People have adapted and, so far, it’s going really well,” Frank said.