BARB BROUWER
Black Press
Tempers are already rising at the news that tipping fees at Columbia Shuswap Regional District landfill and transfer station sites will be going up in June.
“The biggest change is you will now have to pay a minimum $5 user fee, and then there are increases to the tonnage ratesaswell,” says Ben Van Nostrand, CSRD’s team leader of environmental health.
Effective June 1, every trip to a landfill or transfer station, including the one in Falkland, will include a $5 disposal fee. If youtake two bags, they will be included in the basic $5 fee. Three bags will cost $6. Take another bag, add another $2.
Tonnage rates at scaled and unscaled facilities also increase and information on all rate changes is available atwww.csrd.bc.ca.
“We’re actually lowering the fees on ashphalt shingles and drywall. We’re trying to get construction folks to separate theirwaste,” he says.
Van Nostrand says the increase is necessary in order to have enough funds to close and monitor landfill sites as requiredbylaw when the time comes.
At this time, there is an $18.2 million funding shortfall in the appropriate reserve fund, a shortfall that will be reduced bytheincreased tipping fees, which will take effect in all landfill and transfer sites because waste management is a regionaldistrict-wide program.
“We have the luxury right now of capacity, but that doesn’t negate the need for proper financial planning and funding forfuture closing requirments imposed by Ministry of Environment,” said Van Nostrand.
Van Nostrand says the $5 user fee was chosen in order to be consistent with neighbouring regional districts and to try toreduce long lineups at landfills and transfer stations.
He asks that people who have complaints contact the regional district rather than vent at a landfill site.
“It’s not the attendants’ fault; I want to stress that,” he says. “Don’t yell at them, they’re just implementing regulations that the CSRD board has approved.”
