Mount Work Coalition (MWC) welcomes the CRD’s decision to extend the public consultation period on its draft Solid Waste Management Plan to February 15, 2021. MWC, joined by other community groups, requested the extension so that more people could review and comment on the plan.
“This extension will allow for greater public participation in the consultation process on the future of Hartland Landfill as part of the Region’s Solid Waste Management Plan,” said Elaine Klimke, chair of the Mount Work Coalition. “The plan will dictate how we manage garbage and waste in our region for the next decade and beyond from households to large industrial users.”
MWC opposes the “business-as-usual” plan put forward by the CRD which, if adopted, would see expansion of the Hartland landfill through the removal of 73 acres of forest and placing additional pressure on Mount Work Park. The landfill’s expansion also threatens the area’s 16 endangered species and would increase greenhouse gas and methane emissions.
There are many alternatives to expanding the size of Hartland, including the recently announced City of Victoria’s zero waste initiative, the 90% waste reduction target adopted by the Regional District of Nanaimo and Esquimalt’s proposed Integrated Resource Management project.
“Although the CRD is committed to zero waste and exploring a circular economy, the current plan adopts relatively modest waste reduction targets,” said Klimke, “resulting in the inevitable expansion of Hartland unless a more ambitious program of waste reduction is adopted.”
The recommendation from the region’s Solid Waste Advisory Committee to commit to a significantly higher waste reduction target was rejected by the CRD, accepting it only as an “aspirational goal” without any action plan or funding to achieve it.
“This is an important issue for everyone in the region because we need to find alternatives to continued dumping of waste into Hartland, creating more emissions and putting at risk nearby forests and lakes, that is contrary to the CRD’s declaration of a climate emergency,” said Klimke. “Expanding landfills is an outdated response to the region’s waste problems. We need 21st century solutions.”
The public can learn more about the region’s Solid Waste Management Plan and provide input by going to the CRD website at https://www.crd.bc.ca/project/management-plan.
Mount Work Coalition (www.mountworkcoalition.org) is a registered not-for-profit (The Society for the Protection of the Mount Work Region) and consists of concerned and engaged citizens who have come together to encourage the CRD staff and Board to make sound decisions that protect the health and safety of their constituents and protect the viability of the limited wilderness and greens spaces available to our citizens. Its primary goal is to encourage all levels of government to make policy and development decisions on the basis of community consultation, evidence-based research, and long-term, well thought out solutions.
For further information, contact:
Hugh Stephens, Spokesperson
Mount Work Coalition
250-813-0339
principal@tpconnections.com