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.
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