The City of Nelson will join the Regional District of Central Kootenay’s plan for a curbside composting program. That decision came last night after two hours of council debate, a split vote, and several amendments.
Councillor Brittny Anderson pushed for the City’s participation.
“We do need to be really looking at how we are reducing our Green House Gas emissions across the board and this was a key piece, so I think this was a really big win for the environment today and I know our staff are going to work really hard to make sure it’s as cost effective as possible,” said Anderson.
City staff recommended exploring a home based solution that the city could do on its own; however, Anderson feels the regional program is their best chance to divert organics from the landfill.
“This has been something that people have been asking for and talking about for a long time so it’s nice to see that this is finally actually moving ahead,” said Anderson. “Even though 2022 seems like a long time away at this point, it gives our staff enough time to really plan.”
The final vote was 4-3 in favour, as other councillors including Janice Morrison, Cal Renwick and Mayor John Dooley, were concerned about the costs and feel there are too many unknowns. The City will explore ways people doing backyard composting can opt out of curbside and has asked that the regional district meet the following conditions:
a. That the RDCK create a separate service bylaw to implement the Program;
b. That the RDCK guarantees that the Program will be self-funded and any financial losses will be recovered from the participants;
c. That the RDCK will increase tipping fees at Grohman Narrows transfer station towards a user fee system as identified in the central composting strategy;
d. That any incentives available to rural residents under the Program will be made available to City of Nelson residents;
e. That any organics diversion program made available to rural residents be funded by municipal waste tipping fees rather than taxation. The following conditions council would like to be met and the city will also look at ways of letting people opt out of curbside in favour of backyard composting.
The regional district plans to build a facility at the Salmo landfill to handle compost by the end of 2022. They needed a decision from Nelson because of a looming grant deadline.