Reducing Odorous Air Contaminants in Metro Vancouver

Many people don’t know that the Metro Vancouver Regional District is responsible for regulating air quality in our region.

The Regional District is in the process of updating its air quality fee bylaw, which sets fees based on the amount of regulated air contaminants released. The goal of the bylaw is to use these fees to encourage facility owners to reduce the contaminants they release into the air.

Not surprisingly, the top air quality complaint the regional district receives is about odours. The following graph shows the number of complaints received since 2011.

Number of air quality complaints by complaint type from 2011 to 2025. Select the chart to enlarge.

The jurisdictions with the most complaints are consistently Vancouver, Burnaby, Delta, Richmond, Surrey, and the Township of Langley. Interestingly, complaints from Vancouver have been steadily increasing, while those from other jurisdictions have been fairly consistent.

Number of air quality complaints received each year by jurisdiction from 2021 to 2025. Select the chart to enlarge.

Given the number of complaints around odours, the proposed updated bylaw includes a list of odorous air contaminants and associated fees with the aim of reducing the release of these substances.

If you are interested in learning more about air quality and proposed changes to its regulation in our region, please check out the Metro Vancouver website.

Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue 2025 Annual Report

Langley City was part of the now-defunct Central Fraser Valley Regional District, along with the Township of Langley and what is now Abbotsford. There are a few vestiges of this past, including the fact that Langley City has received services from the Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue Society since 1978.

Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue Society Vehicles. Source: Facebook

The Society covers Langley City, Township, and Abbotsford, and its recently released annual report noted that its volunteers responded to 38 incidents in 2025, with about 2 in Langley City. When you think of search and rescue, you likely picture wilderness areas or natural disasters, and while the Society's largest response was to the Sumas Prairie flooding in December 2025, they also search for people who go missing in urban settings like Langley City.

The Society is 100% volunteer run with about 31 active members on average. Its 2025 total expenses were $134,904, funded through all three municipalities, among other sources.

The two capital projects in 2025 were for a new water rescue boat and savings for a new command vehicle.

Beyond search and rescue operations, the Society also does public outreach, including at community events and through its wilderness survival education for young people.

For more information about Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue Society, please visit their website.

Improving Accessibility on Langley City Sidewalks and Streets

While Langley City is currently developing an Accessibility Plan, the City has been working for some time to address physical barriers to access on our sidewalks and streets.

For as long as I’ve lived here, the City has also been slowly making all bus stops accessible. An accessible bus stop has sufficient width and depth to allow someone in a wheelchair to board and exit a bus. Currently, 98% of bus stops in the City are wheelchair accessible, one of the highest rates in Metro Vancouver; the City is looking into making the remaining stops accessible.

In most communities, you’ll see curb letdowns at intersections, which allow people with wheelchairs and other mobility devices the ability to cross a street. While curb letdowns are important, at an intersection with traffic lights or a flashing crosswalk, people also need to be able to push the crossing button. The City has also been working to make sure these buttons are accessible. The following is a recent change at Michaud Crescent and 200th Street to make the crossing button accessible.

I remember going on a day trip years ago with a friend of mine who uses a wheelchair. As I walked with him, it heightened my awareness of the small things that can create big barriers to people accessing our community independently.

Langley City’s new Transportation 2050 plan continues to address improving accessibility in our community, including bringing all curb letdowns to modern standards, getting the last 2% of bus stops accessible, completing the sidewalk network, ensuring more accessible parking on-street and in private development, and making other small but important changes, such as for accessing crossing buttons.

Wrangling Solid Waste in Metro Vancouver

While a combination of public and private service providers in our region collect garbage, recycling, organics and other solid waste, it is the Metro Vancouver Regional District that manages the overall solid waste system. The Regional District is in the process of updating its Solid Waste Management Plan, which, if adopted, will impact Langley City.

I’ve posted about the overall goals of this proposed updated plan last summer: rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover. In short, it means thinking about how we design products and packaging to prevent waste in the first place and do everything we can to prevent waste from being burned at an incinerator or buried in a landfill.

To that end, the Regional District is proposing new waste-reduction targets for the next decade.

The plan’s target is to:

• Reduce per capita waste generation by 10% from 1.22 tonnes to 1.1 tonnes
• Reduce disposal per capita by 30% from 430kg to 300kg (burned or buried)
• Increase the recycling rate from 65% to 70% (material recycled into new products, including compost)
• Increase the diversion rate from 65% to 75% (includes all material recycled, plus any material used to create alternatives to fossil fuels)

Recycling and diversion rates have always been lower in our region for attached housing (townhouses and apartments) than detached housing, so one of the focus areas is to boost these rates. There is also significant waste generated during the demolition and construction of buildings, so another focus area is preventing the disposal of valuable building materials.

Our region has a strong track record of reducing waste. I’m optimistic that we will now be able to address reducing waste generation and further reducing disposal under this proposed new plan, if it is adopted.