The Regional District of Fraser Fort George is planning a landfill cardboard ban for commercial and industrial customers, coming into effect summer 2017.
Waste Diversion Program Leader Rachael Ryder says business and industry represents almost 60% of waste delivered to the landfill.
“So it made sense that if they are the biggest contributors, we should start with them first.” noting that there are plenty of options for cardboard pickup for business.
“There is no reason it should be going in our landfill.”
The Regional District of Bulkley Nechako rolled out a complete cardboard ban in July which included residential customers, something Ryder says may be phased in here down the road.
A clean wood waste ban is also being planned for 2018.
Ryder anticipates clean wood should be able to be used as biofuel, “so if we can divert that from the landfill into those plants, it’s another win-win situation for those involved.”
Hanging over any potential changes to the Regional District’s waste management system, is the problem of illegal dumping.
Ryder says they anticipate a small temporary bump when they make any changes, but that “the 20 year baseline stays the same.”
“If you’ve lived in Prince George all your life, you can remember appliances being thrown down the cutbanks. We didn’t charge for those. It wasn’t that we forced those people out to do that it’s the behaviour they chose to do. So it’s more of an attitude we’ve found.”
She says the RDFFG will be rolling out a strategy to deal with illegal dumping alongside the cardboard ban. The plan will feature a public outreach portion to explain the need to eliminate cardboard in the landfill.
“We are trying to get people to see that this just doesn’t make sense.”
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