Regional District of Central Okanagan
Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen
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Sugar Loaf Mountain and Traders Cove
Transfer Station Petition
PROBLEM WITH RDCO's SOLUTION TO
THE GARBAGE PROBLEM
IN THE NORTH WESTSIDE ROAD AREA
LAST UPDATE Friday, 05 January 2007
Please click on refresh to see updates!
This is where the Regional District of Central Okanagan may have mislead residents in stating that the request for bear-proof, unstaffed transfer stations at multiple locations is not considered an option for North Westside Road residents, circled in red on page 4 below.
Click page 4 above to see larger print
Click here to see the other 5
pages that came with this one
RDCO (The Regional District of Central Okanagan) is saying that transfer stations near each subdivision are not an option because:
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1) there is no available land to site the transfer stations without incurring large capital costs to purchase privately owned land. RDCO could take out a 25 year loan so that such a large capital cost be paid back over time. Why pay more in gas instead of convenience and pollute the air and waste time running back and forth wearing out our vehicles. Residents would do better to invest in land than invest in burnt fuel. Residents most likely won't want to keep driving to LaCasa or Sugar Loaf for the next 50 years, why wait until land is more expensive. Think of the future now. There are no houses built at the corner of Valley of the Sun near the mailboxes as yet. Residential Lots will only get more expensive in years to come. A few years ago was the time to buy when lots were going for closer to $10,000 but RDCO missed it, and now lots are more expensive and going for closer to $30,000 and up. RDCO missed the bandwagon on that, and they have not done anything about this issue since they created the North Westside Official Community Plan of 1999 that states on page 57 that the Regional Districts objectives were to increase the number of new transfer stations and improve the operations of existing transfer stations. There were never any more transfer stations built, and I doubt there was any investigation into increasing the number of new transfer stations, except to say that it would be too expensive because there is supposedly no crown land around. Its more than likely they didn't think about how cheap the land is out here.
Fintry $30,000 to purchase parcel of land Valley of the Sun $30,000 to purchase parcel of land Ewings Landing $30,000 to purchase parcel of land Estamont $30,000 to purchase parcel of land Killiney Beach $30,000 to purchase parcel of land (Westshore Estates is approx. 1 km from Sugar Loaf so maybe they could use still Sugar Loaf transfer station) Total $150,000 to purchase 5 parcels of land divided by 710 paying residents Total = $211.27 each residence to purchase land We complain about fuel prices rising and pipelines shutting down in disrepair, but are we doing anything about it? No, we keep running back and forth to the transfer station to dump our garbage. Oil sand resources are being gobbled up and pushing fuel prices through the roof.
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RDCO says that 2) experience throughout North America has shown that such sites become illegal dumping locations. Illegal dumping is caused from Regional Districts placing restrictions on residents being able to dump what needs to be dumped when it needs to be dumped and charging tag-a-bag fees for dumping. There were no locks on the garbage bins in Richmond BC and there was no illegal dumping go on. There are locks on the transfer station and there is garbage strewn everywhere on the North Westside of Okanagan Lake. Just the thing that attracts tourists.
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RDCO says that 3) it contravenes the Solid Waste Management Plan required and approved by the Ministry of Environment. The Ministry of Environment mandate is to protect the environment! Having garbage strewn everywhere is not protecting the environment and neither is all the driving back and forth to the transfer station site 10 km's up the road. What RDCO proposes will not reduce illegal dumping, it will take more than that. Putting bear proof garbage cans at a few viewpoints along Westside Road would help with tourists refuse, and building smaller transfer stations in rural areas nearer to where residents can more easily access residential household waste disposal sites would help as well. RDCO nor the Ministry of Environment are doing anything to address illegal dumping.
It would help if more individual residents filled out the Environmental Petition to the Auditor General.
The Auditor General Act (section 72f) directs the Office to report on cases where money has been spent without due regard to the environmental effects of those expenditures.
PART 2: REQUIREMENTS FOR REGIONAL SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PLANS
16. Environmental Guiding Principles and Regional Objectives
(2) The ministry believes that the following principles, derived from other sections of this guide as well as other ministry documents, provide the minimum set of principles which will generate the policies and strategies the ministry expects to see in regional solid waste management plans:
The consumption of material and energy resources is set at a level which is ecologically sustainable;
The regional solid waste stream is reduced to the greatest extent possible, in accordance with the hierarchy of reduce, reuse, and recycle, and consistent with local resources and the nature of the regional solid waste stream.
The goal of environmental policy is zero pollution and the strategies for achieving that goal are in accordance with the precautionary principle.
Individuals and firms are enabled to make environmentally sound choices about consumption of resources and generation of waste through provision of appropriate information, including user-pay and market-based incentives wherever possible.
Reduction policies and strategies are developed through public consultation and are socially acceptable and cost-effective, based on full accounting of costs and benefits, both monetary and non-monetary. -
Unstaffed stations not considered an option.
The Ministry of Environment's website says stations should be staffed at least once per week. Please read:
"Guidelines for Establishing Transfer Stations for Municipal Solid Waste".
4.6 Site Tidiness
Litter at small unstaffed stations should be cleaned up at least once per week.
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/gfetsfms.html
See for yourself if you think the Regional District of Central Okanagan is
misleading residents with this survey, read the following information below
which was taken directly from the Ministry of Environments Website
Ministry of Environment Guidelines for Establishing Transfer Stations for Municipal Solid Waste
1.1 General
There are two principal reasons for constructing a transfer station:
Economics — If the destination of the wastes is far away from the area in which
they are collected, then it may be more economical to transfer the wastes to
large vehicles for haulage than to haul them directly in the original collection
vehicles. This situation is becoming increasingly common, as landfills become
more difficult to site and, therefore, more remote from populated areas.
Service — For a rural area without a garbage collection service,
a transfer station is often provided as a service
to local residents, so that they do not have far to drive to drop off their
wastes. A transfer station is often established at a landfill after
it has been closed because people are accustomed to taking their waste to that
location. Such a transfer station may or may not be economical.
Ideally, a transfer station should be sited as
close as possible to the centroid of the population served, in order to minimize
collection costs, or some distance along the haul route to the landfill.
The transfer station should be sited and operated so as to create no
environmental or health hazard, and no nuisance.
3.3 Access Roads
Roads to a transfer station site and within the site should be designed to
provide all season, all weather access. The minimum road width should be 8
metres. Designs must be in accordance with standard practice for the anticipated
traffic volume and speeds. Sufficient space should be provided for queuing, such
that vehicles need not stop on a public road or highway when entering the site.
Traffic flow through the site should be considered.
Gravelled surfaces may be acceptable, depending on the local context, but if
dust or mud is a problem, asphalt paving should be provided.
3.6 Wildlife Control
Perimeter fencing, such as the chain link variety, is
the first defence against wildlife intrusion. Careful
attention must be paid to gate design, on the one hand to promote responsible
use by humans (including both easy access and after use closure) while at the
same time to prevent wildlife from entering the site.
5.4 Financing Transfer Stations
There are a number of ways for local government to finance solid waste
management functions including waste transfer via transfer stations. They
include general revenue and user fees (uniform fees
or sub-area/facility specific fees). Implementation of a true user fee system,
which would promote the 3 R's by users, will require facility staffing during
operating hours. A modified user fee system
would be a fixed charge per user, regardless of the extent or frequency of use.
This could be done, for example, by issuing keys to the transfer station gate to
local area users, or by using a card lock system, and charging an
annual fee to the users who receive keys or cards.
Local governments should be aware of the
Provincial Rural Waste Management Financial Assistance Program. Under
this program, a portion of the initial capital cost of transfer stations can be
considered for by the province as follows:
1. Up to one third of the initial capital cost, to a maximum of $30,000, to
close an existing inappropriate rural landfill and replace it with a transfer
station.
2. Up to one third of the initial capital
cost, to a maximum of $20,000, to install a transfer station at a new site.
You can read more about the above at these three links below.
Ministry of Environment - Environmental Protection Division
Environmental Management Branch
Guidelines for Establishing Transfer Stations for Municipal Solid Waste
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/gfetsfms.html
Ministry of Environment - Environmental Protection Division
Environmental Management Branch
Guide to the Preparation of Regional Solid Waste Management Plans by Regional
Districts —Part I
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/gprswmp1.html
Ministry of Environment - Environmental Protection Division
Environmental Management Branch
Guide to the Preparation of Regional Solid Waste Management Plans by Regional
Districts — Part II
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/gprswmp2.html
Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund
The Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund improves and increases the stock of core
public infrastructure in areas such as water, wastewater, cultural, recreation,
and those very things that make our communities vibrant and productive places to
live and work and raise families.
http://www.canadabcmrif.ca/
Preventing municipal pollution
82 If the minister is satisfied on reasonable grounds that an activity or
operation has been or is being performed by a municipality in a manner that is
likely to release a substance that will cause pollution of the environment, the
minister may, with respect to the municipality, exercise the powers that a
director may exercise under section 81 (1) [pollution prevention orders] in
relation to other persons.
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/E/03053_07.htm#section82
81 (1) If a director is satisfied on reasonable grounds that an activity or
operation has been or is being performed by a person in a manner that is likely
to release a substance that will cause pollution, the director may order a
person referred to in subsection
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/E/03053_07.htm#section81
THINK ABOUT IT
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Where is garbage going to get stored if residents miss curb side garbage pickup day that week, as there are bears here and sheds get broken into?
This is what curbside garbage pickup looks like along Westside Road.
Doesn't curb side garbage pickup look nice??
This was a garbage can tipped over along Westside Road (south end) after the garbage truck took the garbage. The recyclables and grass clippings are still there waiting for another truck. It would be nicer if we didn't have to drive past peoples garbage on the side of the road every week because it doesn't look nice!
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If garbage disposed of in the bush away from a subdivision down in a steep canyon that needs a professional to repel down to it, is now disposed of in the transfer station bin, what indirect cost of illegal dumping does that save for North Westside residents vs. the extra cost to build more transfer stations near each subdivision? Some of the savings could be diverted to building more transfer stations. See mattress at bottom of canyon.
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All the running back and forth of vehicles to the dump is polluting the environment. It would be wiser to put a cigarette in your mouth and have a puff than have a vehicles tailpipe in your mouth. Not everyone smokes cigarettes but everyone uses a vehicle whether it be transit, car, a truck to haul merchandise you purchase and use, or whatever. We go to great lengths to ban smoking cigarettes, how about vehicle pollution?
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Curbside pickup will attract coyotes, dogs, bears, and rodents.
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A growing concern with the costs of curbside collection has put some programs in jeopardy or has induced some jurisdictions to reject curbside collection in favour of depots and/or bins. SEE
section 71 (3) of the Ministry of Environments Guide to the Preparation of Regional Solid Waste Management Plans by Regional Districts — Part II
http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/mpp/gprswmp2.html -
RDCO needs to complete a comprehensive review and consultation with the public.
Public consultation process
27 (1) A municipality must provide for a process for comprehensive review and consultation with the public respecting all aspects of the development, amendment and final content of a waste management plan that applies to that municipality.
(2) The minister may not approve a waste management plan unless the minister is satisfied that there has been adequate public review and consultation with respect to the development, amendment and final content of the waste management plan. SEE
http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/e/03053_03.htm#section27
As it is most of the negotiations have been between RDCO and the North Westside Communities Association. More than half the residents living in the North Westside are not members of the North Westside Communities Association. RDCO needs to have interaction with residents that are not NWCA members just as much as with the NWCA. -
Can't rely on public to be as conservative as possible in their recycling habits, it is better if the Regional District of Central Okanagan took responsibility and control by sorting the garbage professionally like they do in Edmonton Alberta.
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DLC ( Demolition, Land Clearing and Construction ) Waste diversion is a priority to RDCO, when all waste should be a priority.
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Pharmaceuticals and personal care products are getting into our water supply this report says dated January 2006, by Canadian Institute For Environmental Law And Policy
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Why is progress so slow? After all, the mandates and commitments are there, the knowledge of what to do and how to do it is there, and we know it can be done – some of our findings show that. I am left to conclude that the reasons are lack of leadership, lack of priority, and lack of will.
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What are you suppose to do with your garbage that week if you have more than your allowed 2 bags of garbage and 2 tag-a-bags, take it all the way 45 minutes to Westside Landfill?
Thats a car battery laying there on the ground and it looks like a bear got into
the garbage tipping the can.
SEE GARBAGE FOUND AT SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN
SEE MORE GARBAGE FROM SUGAR LOAF MOUNTAIN
SEE GARBAGE FOUND AT VALLEY OF THE SUN
SEE TRADERS COVE TRANSFER STATION
SEE VIEWPOINT & PULLOUT GARBAGE
SEE GARBAGE AT LACASA LAKESIDE COTTAGE RESORT
Environment Canada's Environmental Learning & Sustainability
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If you have comments good or bad, solutions, concerns or complaints regarding the local transfer station at Sugar Loaf Mountain or Traders Cove Transfer Stations, please fill out the form below and let your neighbors know.
PLEASE DON'T TAKE YOUR FRUSTRATION AT RDCO OUT ON THE BUSH ... TAKE IT OUT ON RDCO
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