Changes to Recycling Program

In BC, most things can be recycled. The provincial government has a program called Extended Producer Responsibility (ESR) which is meant to put the cost of managing the end-of-life for products and packaging to industry. While this program has been around for awhile, one of the last parts of the ESR program, placing the responsibility to manage packaging and printed material end-of-life to industry, is just starting to ramp up.

Most municipalities have recycling programs in place that collecting product packaging and printed material already. In Metro Vancouver, this is usually in the form of curb side recycling or central collection points in apartment buildings. One of the concerns expressed by municipalities was that Multi-Material British Columbia, an organization established by industry to manage packaging and printed material, would result in a reduction of waste being diverted to landfill. Even if Multi-Material British Columbia collections more material from households, there is a concern that some material collected will go into landfill anyway or into permanent “storage” if this is no market for the recycling of the materials it collects.

Another concern is that it may be more difficult to recycling glass in some communities. Because glass can contaminating the recycling stream, Multi-Material British Columbia wants glass materials collected independent of other materials. In some communities, there will only be minor changes to how current glass collection works, but in other community people may have to return glass to glass recycling depots. This would result in more glass ending up in landfill.

It’s not all bad new though. Most people in BC will now be able to recycling more material including :

-Gabletop containers (e.g., milk cartons)
-Aerosol containers
-Plant pots
-Aluminum foil containers
-Asceptic containers (e.g., soy milk, soup containers)
-Plastic clamshell containers (commonly supplied by bakeries and delis)
-Paper packaging coated with wax or plastic (e.g., milk cartons, ice cream cartons)
-Hot and cold drink cups

Starting on May 19th, the Multi-Material British Columbia recycling program begins in the City of Langley for single-family houses and June 17th for multi-family complexes. Right now the City has a single-stream recycling system, but after May 19th glass will have to be put into new glass-only recycling containers that are being delivered. Between June 17th and May 19th, people that live in multi-family complexes will not be able to recycling glass. Plastic shopping bags and styrofoam containers will be collected at depots. More information is on the City of Langley’s website.

Going Full Circle: Commercial Development in the Township of Langley

Historical street networks consisted of main/high streets which usually saw a mix of commercial, industrial and residential uses, and side streets that were primarily residential. In response to the wide-spread use of the automobile, the road network evolved into superblocks where high-speed traffic would travel along the edge. The pedestrian-friendly centre of the block was where shops, schools, and other service would be. This slowly turned into the hierarchical road network of today with arterials, collectors, and local roads. As the road network changed, so did the design of new commercial areas. In Langley, we can see this shift in design from places like Fort Langley, Aldergrove, and Downtown Langley to places like the Langley Bypass.

Diagramatic illustration of the streets, paths and open, common spaces in a "Pedestrian Pocket"(after Peter Calthorpe).

This weekend I was at the new Willoughby Town Centre, and it occurred to me that Langley is slowly changing back to how city road networks used to work.

Willowbrook, which is a regional town centre, is probably the ultimate example of the auto-oriented, hierarchical road network. Up until the beginning of this century, Willowbrook is where the majority of commercial development occurred in Langley. Starting in the earlier 2000s, the Township of Langley experimented with mixed-use, trying to incorporate pedestrian-friendly design within an auto-oriented, hierarchical road network context.

202nd Street in Walnut Grove. Select image to enlarge.

Recently, the Township has seen more pedestrian-friendly development. Willoughby Town Centre is likely the first larger scale, greenfield development of this type in Langley. What I find interesting is that the while the project boarders 208th Street and 80th Avenue, instead of fronting these main streets, the project is internal-facing like the superblock designs of the early 20th century.

Willoughby Town Centre site plan. Select image to enlarge.

With the recent update to the plan for the Carvolth area in Willoughby, the Township will return to a street network of mixed-use high streets and side streets.

I'm happy to see this slow shift back to traditional, pedestrian-friendly community design though I wish the change would happen faster. I have to wonder if in another 25 years, people will look back at the 20th century as a failed experiment on urban design.

New report on transit imbalance in Metro Vancouver

Getting improved transit service in the South of Fraser is a chicken-or-the-egg type issue. You can’t building transit-oriented communities without frequent transit service. You only get increased demand for transit service when there is frequent transit service. TransLink won’t increase transit service unless there is demand, and has no money to help build transit service where there currently isn’t a demand.

As part of the upcoming referendum on transit, the provincial government has requested that the TransLink’s Mayors’ Council come up with a 10 year investment plan by mid-summer. The City of Vancouver has been pushing for the UBC subway as the next big investment while South of Fraser municipalities have been pushing for rapid transit along King George Boulevard, 104th Avenue, and Fraser Highway.

It should come as no surprise that there is less transit service in the South of Fraser than in the North of Fraser, but how big is that difference?

Surrey, White Rock, Delta, the Township of Langley, and the City of Langley have released a report called “South of Fraser LRT & Transit Investment Needs: Moving Towards the Regional Transit Average”. The report highlights the major imbalance of transit service in our region.

Commute to Work, 2011. Compares South of Fraser to North of Fraser. The availability of transit service contributes to people’s travel choices. Source: Census Canada 2011. Select graphic to enlarge.

To highlight the imbalance, the report shows that the North of Fraser holds 56% of the region’s population, yet receives 68% of bus revenue hours. The South of Fraser holds 31% of the region’s population, but only receives 19% of bus revenue hours.

Frequent transit means service every 15 minutes of better, 7 days a week for most of the day. The North of Fraser has a 276km frequent transit network while the South of Fraser only has a 77km network.

For more facts, check out the full 10 page report. It’s a quick read as it is basically 10 pages of infographics.

I should note that the South of Fraser isn’t being “screwed over by TransLink”. Research I’ve done shows that places like Langley are getting more money from TransLink when projects like the Golden Ears Bridge are factored in. The South of Fraser is geographically larger than the North of Fraser. A good chunk of the North of Fraser was built when streetcars were the primary mode of transportation. The South of Fraser was designed in the automobile era. These factors, combined with the fact that TransLink does not have the funding to put frequent transit in areas to build ridership, leads to this imbalance.

This report will be sent to the Mayors’ Council on Regional Transportation Investment Plan Subcommittee to influence the development of the 10 year investment plan.

While it would be good to see all transit projects built at once, even if the transit referendum passes, it is not likely that all projects will be able to be built all at once. A decision will need to be made: support transforming the South of Fraser from an auto-oriented sub-region to a transit-oriented sub-region, or alleviate transit congestion along Broadway, one on of the busiest transit corridors in North America. This will not be an easy decision to make.

I haven't started a new blog

Over the last day, I’ve received a handful of inquires about if I’ve started a new blog or if this blog is closing down. To clear up the air, this is the only blog that I regularly post on, I am not part of a new blog or organization, and I have no plans to shut down the South Fraser Blog.

I recently wrote a guest post for Moving in a Livable Region and I support this organization. In the past, I’ve posted original content on Civic Surrey. I also maintain my election website and the Greater Langley Cycling Coalition website.

All content on the South Fraser Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Canada License. This means other people are allowed to use all content from this blog as long as the content is attributed as originating from this blog, and it is not for commercial purposes.

I actively encourage people to share and repost content from this blog as I believe in sharing information. When content is shared or reposted, I does not mean that I am endorsing the person who shared the content or the site where it is reposted.