The Regional District of Nanaimo does not consider it viable at this time to provide an interim solution to divert industrial, commercial and institutional waste.
The RDN’s solid waste management plan has a goal of 90 per cent waste diversion from its landfill and aims to achieve that through the implementation of two major initiatives, ‘Mandatory Waste Source Separation’ and ‘Waste Hauler Licensing’, projected to be operational by the second quarter of 2022.
But before the two programs have fully matured, the RDN’s goal is to reduce by 10 per cent the overall waste stream, or about 17,000 tonnes of diverted materials annually from both the Church Road transfer station and regional landfill.
An audit report shows that industrial, commercial and institutional materials such as organics, paper and plastic make up 44 per cent of the RDN waste stream. And based on the report, RDN staff reviewed the cost to provide additional services for paper and plastics to increase waste diversion from both regional district waste facilities.
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To provide a short-term delivery of this program staff reported, the two waste facilities need to be modified and if it was to be sustained for more than two years, additional infrastructure would be needed. It will require a significant capital investment at the Church Road station and the landfill as both lack space to accommodate bins for the ICI materials even on an interim basis.
With Parksville Qualicum Beach having no Recycle BC recycling option, staff indicated although the interim solution would be geared for ICI materials only at both facilities, they anticipate more waste also to be coming from residential sources.
To achieve 20 per cent and 50 per cent diversion rates of ICI materials, the RDN will see costs go up between $1,450,00 and $1,750,000 including capital costs.