After its funding request to the city was denied, the NRE is giving up on the idea of a new zero-waste depot.
The Nanaimo Recycling Exchange issued a statement Monday in response to the city’s decision last week not to provide $6.05 million for construction of a new depot, plus up to $600,000 in pre-operational funding. The Regional District of Nanaimo had previously declined to provide money for construction of a depot.
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Ben Geselbracht, NRE vice-chairman, said the organization will hold an AGM later this summer and will continue to discuss its future, but a decision has been made to sell the Kenworth Road property, where a new Nanaimo Recycling Exchange depot had been proposed.
“It’s over,” Geselbracht said. “It’s going to be a bit disappointing for a lot of people. It is what it is and we just really need to look at the future and look at what is possible and figure out a way to keep moving this vision of a zero-waste future forward.”
He said there was some discussion about trying to pitch the same proposal again to a new Nanaimo city council after this fall’s local government elections, but the NRE wasn’t in a position to be able to wait around.
“We’ve lost our revenue stream not having an operating facility…” he said. “It’s a condition to the loan that we have that, so we’re really in a state of default already, not having the operation.”
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Rob Campbell, NRE board chairman, said in the statement that “for 25 years the NRE has been the driving force behind Nanaimo’s thriving recycling culture.” He added that while the organization is “forced to sell our rare, centrally located industrial land,” the NRE hopes to work with “a new progressive council” in future.
Jan Hastings, NRE executive director, said in the statement that she thinks a more collaborative process with Nanaimo city council might have led to a different outcome.
“Now we know for sure how this council reacted to our vision, and the preference by the majority of council for private-sector recycling, regardless of diversion limitations,” she said.
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City of Nanaimo Coun. Ian Thorpe said council’s 6-2 in-camera vote not to provide funding for the NRE depot was a difficult decision, and came after receiving legal and financial information.
“Based on the advice we got, it was really just felt that there was too much risk over a long period of time for the city, and the ask, I think, was just simply too high.”
He said the notion of supporting an organization competing with the private sector was touched on, but he didn’t think it was a primary factor in council’s vote, saying the financial burden and inherent risk were the main considerations.
“I’m hoping that the private sector will step forward and make it easier for folks to recycle more objects, because I think the NRE did make it easy for folks to recycle that wanted to, and I’m very much afraid that residents are going to be doing a little bit less recycling now,” Thorpe said.
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