Regional District of Central Kootenay officials say a five-year, $14 million waste management plan adopted by the board last week will save money in the long run.
The plan, headed to public meetings over the next month, includes moving the Nelson and Kaslo transfer stations and consolidating the Nakusp and Salmo landfills at Ootischenia.
“The cost of the capital projects will in part be paid by efficiencies gained through new equipment,” says resource recovery manager Mike Morrison. “We’re looking at multi-point pick-up that lets us transport materials more efficiently between sites.”
Public drop-off areas at transfer stations, most of which were built in the 1970s and ‘80s, will also receive upgrades.
As for relocating the Nelson transfer station off the waterfront, Morrison says they’ve received several proposals, but haven’t evaluated them yet.
“We’re required by the province to have waste management plans,” he explains. “We did our original plan in 1996, and you’re supposed to update them every five years, so we’re long overdue for a fresh look at everything.”
Morrison says they studied eight different options over a 25-year period, including the status quo, and found that doing nothing was the most costly option, “which established a strong business case for making changes.”
Nelson Mayor John Dooley, the city’s representative on the central waste committee, says the plan has been more than two years in the making, and touches every part of the regional district.
“The [current] system is not very efficient,” he says. “A more efficient system will help us reduce the number of trucks on the road and cost of haulage.”
Nearly a quarter of the capital outlay will be spent permanently capping portions of the Creston, Salmo, and Nakusp landfills. The latter two sites would no longer have daily operations and would be replaced with transfer stations, while garbage will be redirected to Ootischenia.
“The idea of this program is to consolidate, streamline, and reduce the amount of product actually going to the landfill,” Dooley says. “We believe there will be a great reduction.”
The plan further includes provisions for composting yard and garden waste, and is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and align with zero waste goals.
The regional district currently spends about $6 million per year dealing with garbage and recycling, a figure that has risen as fuel and contract prices have increased.
However, certain work and equipment purchases have been put off pending completion of the plan.
Five open houses are scheduled, including Wednesday, October 27 at the Salmo community services centre, and Monday, November 8 at the RDCK board room in Nelson. Both run from 4 to 8 p.m.
Following the consultation and provincial approval, the plan could be implemented starting next year, with specific projects getting underway in 2012.
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