The Fraser Valley Regional District is trying to spread awareness about the new garbage and recycling policies that will be coming to the region next April.
“The message is: we can do better,” Jamie Benton, Environmental Services Coordinator for the FVRD, said during his presentation to Kent council Monday (June 24). “Through our strategies in the solid waste management plan, we plan to do that.”
Starting in April 2020, households, businesses and institutions will be required to separate their solid waste into garbage, compost and recycling. This practice, already in place in other regions like Metro Vancouver, is intended to help the FVRD reduce the amount of organic and recyclable material going into landfills.
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The FVRD has been working engagement with this solid waste separation bylaw since 2016, and has been working with the public and stakeholders to figure out how to implement the change successfully.
One of the most important ways to make that happen, Benton said, is to get the independent contractors on board.
The District of Kent doesn’t have a municipal solid waste service — all garbage and recycling pick up is done through contractors — and the businesses will need to have trucks with segregated compartments in order to properly manage the separated waste.
When the policy comes into effect, compost and recycling will likely be picked up every week, while garbage will be picked up every two weeks.
Benton said all contractors currently working in the District of Kent will outfitted with the correct type and number of trucks by the time the new separation policy comes into effect.
Residents and local businesses will also need to become more aware of new policy, which will see them dividing their waste into organics (food scraps, including bones, along with yard waste and paper products), recycling (paper products, including dairy cartons, along with metal containers and plastic containers with the codes 1, 2 and 5) and garbage (anything that can’t be recycled or composted).
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The FVRD is attempting to increase awareness of the new separation policy with its Waste Wise campaign, online and through social media with the hashtag #SortItOut. But it’s also important to reach out to each community individually, Benton said.
“Every community is different,” he said, noting that some communities, like Chilliwack and Harrison Hot Springs, already have separation policies already in place.
“Long term, this is about education,” Benton said. “We won’t be doing enforcement on day one. We won’t be doing enforcement six months down the line. This is a process of getting it right.”
For more information on the roll out of the FVRD’s garbage separation program, as well as what kinds of waste is accepted in the organics, recycling and garbage containers, visit bewastewise.com.
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