Comox Strathcona Waste Management is seeking public feedback about garbage through a series of open houses this month and next in Upper Island communities.The idea is to improve recycling habits, and to explore options to expand landfills and technologies that convert garbage into energy."People are very much interested in diversion (away from landfills)," said Tom Boatman, manager of solid waste services. "Our main message has been our zero waste strategy."The 2016 goal is to reach the 70-per-cent mark in terms of diversion and recycling.Boatman said the district has gone from zero recycling in the early-'90s to more than half. "At this time we're now recycling 50 per cent of the total tonnage we received as solid waste," Boatman said. "That's really exciting to us. Our emphasis now is on composting."With the help of staff at two composting centres, the CSWM has distributed more than 3,000 green cones (backyard composting) in the past two years, representing about 68 per cent of all households in the service area, Boatman added. The CSWM area, which covers landfills and transfer stations in the Comox Valley and Strathcona regional districts, is in the process of updating its solid waste management plan, dubbed as a blueprint to reduce, reuse, recycle and manage waste for the next 10 years.Waste management centres in Cumberland 鈥� formerly the Pidgeon Lake landfill 鈥� and Campbell River serve several communities. Both are near capacity, though there is room for expansion. The Campbell River landfill is expected to reach capacity within the next year while the Cumberland facility has three to four years remaining.The CSWM has identified the following options: 鈥� Expand the Campbell River facility; replace the Comox Valley Waste Management Centre with a transfer station and transport the waste to Campbell River, at a cost of $71 per tonne; 鈥� Expand Comox Valley Waste Management Centre (Pidgeon Lake); replace Campbell River with a transfer station and transport the waste to Comox Valley; $62 per tonne.鈥� Expand both landfills; $68 per tonne.Boatman said existing landfills are from a "bygone era" when there was no liner underneath the landfill mass, or provisions to extract gas.He estimates expansion costs would range between $7 million and $10 million. Closure costs at either facility would be $7 million to $8 million."The new landfill we envision will be an engineered landfill," Boatman said. "It will be double- or triple-lined underneath with material to retain any sort of leachate, which is a liquid that passes through waste. It will be entirely encapsulated, as we close it as we go, and we'll have gas-extraction facilities in the landfill from the moment it opens up." Boatman expected the 20-some attendees at the Cumberland open house to oppose the option of expanding the CVWMC. He instead heard a strong message of sustainability and moving quicker towards zero waste. While she feels diversion is a good thing, Coun. Gwyn Sproule said those in attendance questioned if the figures are solid. "I do believe Cumberland would like to see something more creative happen than the dump and cover. Yes, it does appear to be cheaper than waste to energy (WTE) projects that are being suggested. But how does that fit with our greenhouse gases?"She notes the Village is undertaking a carbon inventory in an effort to reduce the carbon footprint. "If it does become the only dump for the whole mid- to North Island, there'll be a terrific amount of traffic on our roads," she said, adding the CVRD is providing funds for Cumberland's road maintenance to "sweeten the pot." This year, the CSWM will start a pilot project to collect commercial and residential waste in a regional composting effort. In the meantime, it will continue asking for public direction about searching for a cost-effective way to involve WTE technologies for the portion that cannot be composted or diverted.Ideas For Garbage open houses are scheduled to run from 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday at the Comox Seniors' Centre and Thursday at the CVRD boardroom in Courtenay. Presentations both nights are at 7 p.m. The district is also garnering feedback through a survey at www.cswm.ca/plan. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
