The Regional District of Nanaimo has met several of its waste reduction goals, but that doesn’t mean directors or staff can rest on their laurels.
What it means, said Dennis Trudeau, the RDN’s general manager of transportation and solid waste services, is that the RDN needs to refocus its solid waste management plan.
“We feel we have met our diversion goal,” Trudeau said at last week’s committee of the whole meeting. “Now it is time to review what we have left in the landfill and look for opportunities to use what is left properly.”
He noted the RDN has managed to drop its percentage of organic matter from 35 to 30 per cent, which compares favourably with other jurisdictions across the country and around the world.
The total amount of waste disposed has been reduced from 442 kilograms per person to 350, which compares well to Japan, at 371 and Nova Scotia — previously the best in Canada — at just over 400 kilos.
The review of the plan, he said, involves a review and analysis of the current system, followed by a review of options to address the region’s future solid waste management needs and then garnering input from the community.