November 24 2011 P/TAC Meeting

On November 24 2011, the P/TAC meeting focussed on three subjects.

The first item on the agenda was giving final approval for the Stage 1 Document which summarizes the current solid waste management operations within the Regional District of Mount Waddington and the how it should be presented to the public for comments.  Referring to the public consulation plan, we need to develop a questionaire to provide an opportunity to get as many residents their chance to directly participate in the update process as well as organize public meetings to provide the public the additional opportunity to discuss their solid waste concerns directly with staff and comment on the Stage 1 Document.  For those interested in getting an early viewing, I have attached a copy of the Stage 1 Document on this posting.  It should be stated that this document has yet to be approved by the Steering committee so it is still considered a draft.

The second subject of discussion was start of the of Multi Material BC’s process to develop a product stewardship program for residential packaging and printed paper (PPP).  While there have been several product stewardship programs that have been established (electronics, batteries, electrical appliances, etc), a PPP program would be the largest udertaking of its kind in British Columbia.  If the average resident were to remove all the packaging from their garbage, what would be left?… Likely not much given all the box board, plastic containers and wrapping, etc.  Chances are all that remains is food waste and other compostables plus the occassional residues of items which have been used up.  This program’s costs are going to be covered by the purchase price of every item BC’s consumers purchase.  Whether this is a green tax or just factored into the price has yet to be decided but all of us will be contributing unless all your shopping is done out of province.  The key challenge for the RDMW is getting as much material diverted from the waste stream through this program.  If a piece of packaging isn’t diverted by MMBC’s program, RDMW rate payers will then bear the cost of disposing it which means we will have paid for its disposal twice, once in the purchase price and second through your contribution to the solid waste program.  For those interested, I have attached the MMBC brochure which explains the program and a report I submitted to the Board.

Finally we breifly discussed Kitimat Stikine’s EcoPrise program which gives credits for initiatives that divert solid waste.  The rationale is if an effort can divert tonnage, why not provide a positive feedback from a portion of the savings by not landfilling this material?  I have attached a facts sheet for the program and document where I propose possible projects on the North Island.

Thats all for now.  Cheers!

STAGE 1 Doc Approved by PTAC November 24 2011

MMBC Brochure

Board20111101 November Special Report Packaging Stewardship v3

Kitimat Stikine RD Ecoprise Program Fact Sheet

PTAC20111124 RDMW EcoPrise Scenarios

Oct 20th 2011 PTAC Meeting

Hi Everyone

Just to let readers know that there was a PTAC meeting yesterday which given the RDMW Board’s approval of the Environmental Guiding Principles, the consultation plan and the PTAC Terms of Reference made this session the first one under which there were some official rules and guidelines.

The bulk of the bulk of the meeting was a review of the first of likely many drafts of the Stage 1 portion of the SWMP.  With a descriptive name like Stage 1, its probably not clear what its contents are but for members of the public who are interested, the first step in the update process is to document the current solid waste management program.  For residents and businesses of the RDMW, it can be an informative read even in its draft form.  For most people, solid waste managment is putting your garbage cans at the curbside once a week and occasionaly taking the recyclables to a drop off site.  In reality its a very complex organization involving all the local governments on the North Island as well as many private businesses both in and outside the waste sector.  I have attached the first draft of this document for readers to review if they wish.  Just remember its a draft with many ammendments likely to follow prior to getting the Steering Committee’s approval.

Committee members were also given a presentation by Greg Fletcher that showed the power of administrative actions can have significant impacts regarding waste diversion from the landfill.  The PowerPoint presentation is attached to this posting.

Finally the committee began the discussion regarding what priorities need to be explored in developing new initiatives for the updated Regional Solid Waste Management Plan.

The next P/TAC meeting will be at 1:00 PM on November 24.  All normal P/TAC meetings are open to public viewing but if you wish to attend it is recommended that you contact the RDMW office at 956-3301 to confirm no changes in meeting times.

Cheers

Patrick Donaghy

2011 10 19 Waste Management Status

STAGE 1 Oct 20 2011 Draft

October 4th PTAC Meeting

Hi Everyone

This posting was done nearly three weeks after the actual meeting and I will try to keep up once I get a handle on regular blogging.   The first meeting of the Public/Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC) occurred on October 4, 2011 despite me double booking it with another meeting.  This was an important meeting since we needed to get its terms of reference developed, agree on the environmental principals plus come up with a public consultation plan.  All this needed to be done by a group of people who were only just meeting for the first time in many cases.

Members of the committee and who they represent are as follows:

Patrick Donaghy (RDMW)

Shelley Downey (Port McNeill)

Norm Prince (Rural Areas)

Greg Fox (Port Hardy)

Gail Neely (Port Alice)

Wayne Gauthier (Alert Bay)

Also involved in the committee are Greg Fletcher, the RDMW CEO and Shana Shambrook who will be doing much of the coordinating and material preparation with me.

We had some good discussions particularly around the consultation document and the terms of reference all of which you can review in the attachments below.  These documents were approved by the RDMW’s Board on Oct 18, 2011 in its role as the Steering Committee.  One of the things that should be noted is that 5 places on the PTAC were set aside for the First Nation communities that participate in the Regional District’s Solid Waste Program.  Hopefully in future posting I will be able let readers know who will be filling those seats.

Till next time

Cheers

Patrick Donaghy

Approved Minutes PTAC Oct 4 11

Approved PTAC Committee Terms of Reference

Approved 2011 2012 RDMW Public Review Consultation Process for SWMP

Approved Environmental Guiding Principles

Kicking Off the Regional District`s Solid Waste Management Plan

Hi Everyone

This is the first time I have tried blogging so please be patient for the next year or so. Back in 1996 the Regional District developed a plan to manage its garbage and now its 15 years later and few things have changed. For one thing in 2011 we dont call it garbage but instead use the term solid waste. If this sounds like bureaucratese to some I can understand the scepticism but really it is also an fundemental effort to rethink how we deal with everything which has no longer any use for and trying to give it some value. This effort extends beyond just recycling to also include the other R`s (Reduce and Reuse) as well as properly managing those things that need to be disosed of permanently whether its landfilling or burning it as fuel. That being said, the residents of northern Vancouver Island need to look at the old plan from 1996 and poke around what it said as to how waste should be managed and then compare it what is going on today. Chances are you`ll notice somethings were followed as planned but in many cases what has actually come about was never contemplated.

For those interested, I have attached a copy of the old plan. A big challenge to those who wrote the document was they had next to no information to plan around. many of the old landfills managed by municipalities had no scales to measure how much was being dumped in the hole so data was created using very liberal amounts of guess work. Since that time the Regional District through its operation of 7 Mile Landfill has been able to amass plenty of information regarding what and how our residents and businesses dispose of every week. I have added these data sets to this posting so readers can explore indepth if they wish.

Getting away from history and data, I should touch on the big picture for those of you curious about the update process for the Solid Waste Management Plan. Two committees have been established to lead the process. First is the PublicTechnical Advisory Committee which generates recommendations after discussions and consultations with the general public and staff at the Regional District. The other committee is the Plan Review Steering Committee which provides oversite to the advisory committee in regards to its recommendations. The process itself will likely take over a year to complete with periodic scheduling of public consultation meetings.

I`m going to close off this posting for the time being by adding attachments. Further postings will go into more detail about various elements of the process so please keep checking this blog and ask questions. The Regional District wants your input as early and often as possible.

Thats all for now

Cheers

Patrick

1995 RDMW Solid Waste Management Plan

Solid Waste Stats for 2011

Solid Waste Stats for 2010

Solid Waste Stats for 2009

Solid Waste Stats for 2008

 

RDMW SOLID WASTE PLAN

This blog will be the online centre of community discussion concerning the new Regional District of Mount Waddington Solid Waste Management Plan.  Stay tuned for further exciting revelations.