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Arrow Lakes News
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Vol. 89 Issue 52 • Monday, December 24, 2012 • www.arrowlakesnews.com • 250-265-3823 • $1.25 •
RDCK turning trash into treasure Nakusp landfill scheduled to become transfer station in 2015 as part of changes to increase efficiency Claire paradis Arrow Lakes News
Over time there has been a shift in attitude about what we throw out, how and where. If you take a hike through the bush near old housing sites, you’ll often run into heaps of old rusty cans and vintage glass bottles – the remains of an old garbage dump site. On rare days in some areas near Nakusp, you can still smell the distinctive odour of burning plastic and assorted garbage. It’s a stink that brings rural Mexico to mind, where burning plastic is often still seen as a great fire starter, rather than a source of toxic smoke (although less and less so as more Mexicans learn about the health hazards of the stuff). For the most part though, most of what we don’t use ends up in a landfill where it breaks down in one place over the years needed to decompose our waste. In the Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK), residual solid waste is roughly 30,000 tonnes per year, with the West subregion’s 21,120 population producing approximately 13,078 tonnes in 2009 and 4,845 tonnes of recyclables. Collecting and figuring out what to do with all that material is a big job, one that was re-examined in 2009/2010 by SNC-Lavalin Environment. What they found was that change was good, and that keeping their operations the same would result in waste of money. One of the changes outlined in the 2010/2011 Regional Resource Recovery Plan is an alteration to waste collection and depots in the western subregion of the RDCK (Electoral Areas H,
I, J and K, Castlegar, New Denver, Silverton, Nakusp and Slocan). In order to not waste fuel, a circular route has been devised that will take the place of much to-ing and fro-ing of trucks, and the Ootischenia site outside of Castlegar will become the primary landfill. Because of its size, the Nakusp landfill actually is more wasteful than efficient, according to Mike Morrison, RDCK’s Resource Recovery Manager. “The actual reality is there are substantial fixed costs for landfill,” said Morrison, who told the Arrow Lake News that it’s more efficient to truck waste to a higher volume landfill site. Changes are coming for the Nakusp site in 2015, according to the Plan, with Nakusp to become a transfer station where waste is compacted and then shipped to Ootischenia. Material drop off will still exist, and both Nakusp Village councillor Ulli Mueller and Mike Morrison stated that there will be no change for the residents who take their garbage to the site, there just will no longer be landfill there. Final capping of the fill that is there is scheduled to take place in 2016, but the regional district will keep certificates active and plans up to date so that landfill in Nakusp can resume once Ootischenia has reached capacity. It will be some time until that happens, however, because the Ootischenia site is estimated to have 35 years of remaining fill capacity, even with the closing of the Nakusp landfill. Is Castlegar happy to be getting more garbage? “No one ever wants more garbage but it was recognized to the bene-
fit to the entire region and specifically to the west subregion,” said Morrison. “It makes our system much more efficient,” he added, saying the changes are an economic benefit for the entire subregion. Shifting fill to Castlegar’s Ootischenia will be reducing costs, some of which are the cost of the operations currently being performed at the Nakusp site. “Nakusp will no longer have an operations contract for the site but there will be periodic maintenance of the wood pile and turning compost,” said Morrison. “There’s currently one part-time contractor who would have his hours significantly reduced, but the gate operations will remain unchanged.” Reducing system inefficiencies are only one aspect of the Regional Resource Recovery Plan. The overall goal is the ideal of Zero Waste, aiming to reduce the amount of waste put into the environment, as well as costs to taxpayers and liability to local governments. “Zero Waste promotes moving beyond the traditional five R’s hierarchy and instead adopts a more holistic approach to the traditional linear flow of resources,” the Plan details, with the overarching idea being a shift away from a traditional disposable lifestyle. Education and innovation are both key parts of Zero Waste. Part of the Plan’s movement toward Zero Waste is an increase in composting of household waste, something that many people in the RDCK are interested. Morrison said the RDCK’s focus for the next five years is basic yard and
PM40036531
Season of lights
It’s the season of light – lots of little bright ones. More pictures on page 12. Claire Paradis/Arrow Lakes News garden waste, with an eye to centralized food waste composting systems in the future. “Some of our municipalities may want to move ahead on their own,” said Morrison about communities ready to start looking at composting in the near future. The RDCK would
See Waste page 2
Two planes in Nakusp hangar vandalized Claire paradis Arrow Lakes News
Two planes at the Nakusp airport were the target of recent vandalism. Two of the three planes kept in hangars and a trailer out near the airfield were battered by one or
two people some time on Sunday, Dec. 16 and Monday, Dec. 17 said Nakusp RCMP Constable Tithecott. One plane, a yellow home built aircraft, had a control snapped in the cockpit and part of the top had been caved in by the vandals. Vari-
ous controls had been destroyed on the plane sources said. The troublemakers also emptied a fire extinguisher into another plane, spraying masses of dry chemical through the interior. Although there has been no estimate made yet as to the extent of
the damage, Cst. Tithecott believes it is significant, noting that the planes’ owners will have to pay to get them repaired and inspected before they are safe to fly again. Although they haven’t had access to all the video surveillance footage yet, the RCMP say
they will be reviewing the video and examining forensic evidence to discover who is responsible for the damage. Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious is urged to contact the Nakusp RCMP or Crimestoppers.
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