"Sham" waste bylaw offers little protection

By MITCHELL SHERRIN

Staff Writer

Islanders might not think too much about their garbage once it leaves their home but a little delving into the local waste-transfer process reveals an issue littered with slag complaints, a murky history and sundry bylaw-enforcement scraps.

It has been just a little over a year since the Capital Regional District (CRD) implemented a transfer-station bylaw (Bylaw 2810) to regulate the operation of solid-waste management on Salt Spring.

"I think it's a sham," said Pam Ellacott, who co-owns Salt Spring Garbage Services (SSGS) with Sheila Twa.

"Nobody follows any rules here any way. The other two [operators] don't. I don't think it makes any difference," Ellacott said.

She questions why there are no other licensed waste-transfer stations in any other region of the province.

"It's just another way for the CRD to get more money."

She served on the waste-transfer bylaw steering committee and believes it was pushed through with little public consultation.

"If the CRD wants something done on this island, they just do it. People can balk about it, it doesn't matter."

She feels the Twa's landfill previously situated on the Blackburn Road site posed no problem before it was closed by provincial environment ministry order on December 31, 1991.

She believes that the shale area beneath the SSGS waste-transfer site is an ideal cleanser to prevent contaminants from entering the aquifer.

"We all live here. We don't want anything to happen to our own land."

She doesn't think the waste-transfer bylaw serves islanders.

"It makes no difference to me. Whatever they charge me, I have to charge back to the people."

Salt Spring Recycling Depot manager Peter Grant doesn't think the bylaw is working either.

"It would work if it was interpreted the way it was written. But the CRD tends to interpret things one way for one group and another way for another."

The key aspect of the bylaw is that waste-transfer sites must be situated on an impervious surface, Grant said.

"All the other stuff in the regulation goes out the window if you don't follow the first one."

Operators must have a geotechnical engineer's report with plans for groundwater protection, a catch basin and spill containment. But those plans are meaningless without an impermeable surface underneath, he noted.

Grant is irked the Recycling Depot had to go through the regulatory process, including a $10,000 security deposit, even though it doesn't accept garbage.

Though the CRD has investigated complaints about three of the four local waste service providers, the licensing agency insists the bylaw functions adequately.

"It's working o ut. We're trying to get a balance between operators getting an opportunity to operate and also recognizing the needs of the public, particularly the neighbouring homes," said CRD solid-waste division assistant manager John Craveiro.

"There's been some complaints and once those complaints are identified, they're investigated and then the respective operators are requested to rectify them."

In the last three months alone, the CRD ordered Island Garbage Express (IGE) to quit using an unlicensed waste-transfer site on Knott Road (off Rainbow Road).

SSGS was directed to "cease and desist" from burning demolition waste, to not store demolition waste in amounts greater than 30 cubic metres, to deal with the material on impermeable pads and store it containers. It was also cited for collecting used paint and motor oil, materials not authorized in the SSGS licence.

The CRD has also heard concerns about Laurie's Recycling and Waste Service (LRWS) using an unlicensed site on Lee Road. (See separate story.)

Only the CRD-funded recycling depot has been free of controversy.

The CRD investigated reports of solid-waste activity at Knotts Place in late December to learn that IGE was transferring waste without a permit there. IGE partner Ron Schwab declined comment on use of the Knotts Place, or any other aspect of the waste-transfer process.

"They said they were not aware a permit was required," Craveiro said.

However, IGE co-owner Chris North and Knotts Place property owner Laurie Hedger of LRWs both sat on the transfer-station regulation committee.

"We advised them of the bylaw and they said they would comply," Craveiro said.

The CRD had previously heard complaints about IGE trucks parked on the roadside, but complaints were not issued by neighbours and the CRD holds no authority over roadways, Craveiro noted.

Chipping of wood waste by SSGS also resulted in complaints and CRD involvement in November.

While burning was prohibited at the Blackburn Road waste-transfer site, the practise of chipping wood waste was deemed to be a form of compacting that would be a permitted use under the licence, he said.

"When you develop regulatory schemes, it's difficult to name everything that is permitted and not permitted. Some things are left up to interpretation."

Complaints about litter and dust at the LRWS site on Lee Road were also investigated but Craviero noted that Lee Road attracts more concern due to its exposure to neighbours.

"Some sites are more forgiving than others."

The CRD has authority to issue fines or pursue bylaw infractions in court should a matter go beyond verbal warnings and letters, he said.

"All complaints are either resolved or in the process of being resolved."

As part of the bylaw application process, operators must provide a substantial security deposit to cover costs to remedy any potential problems, he noted.

"The bylaw is there to protect the environment and to protect the community and to provide a level playing field for industry to operate in so everyone knows what's expected of them. That's the goal I believe that it's achieving," Craveiro said.

"We constantly have to be reviewing it and ensuring that people are complying and I'm sure that they are. There are business people who have been operating for 20 years and it's their community too."

Salt Spring regional director Gary Holman agrees with Craveiro about the bylaw's success.

"Except for a few troublemakers I think it is working reasonably well. That's not to say there aren't issues."

He said complaints have often had personal-conflict roots.

"There is a concern about grinding axes -- people who have long-standing grievances -- and of a nonregulatory, personal nature, and you don't want to be enforcing bylaws just because people have an axe to grind, and you have to keep things in perspective.

"And that's not to say I don't acknowledge there are issues there, but they are relatively minor. The environmental risks are relatively minor and we maybe need to do a bit better job, and you can always do a better job, but in general I feel it is working reasonably well."

Salt Spring's garbage has been transferred to Hartland Road by private means since the Blackburn Road dump closed at the end of 1991.

Operations were unregulated, except under Ministry of Environment authority, until Bylaw 2810 was brought in. However, Salt Spring still fell under the CRD's solid waste area.

"We were asked by the Trust and the CRD director for the CRD to use its powers under the Waste Management Act to develop and implement regulations to regulate operation of transfer facilities," Craveiro said.

The Salt Spring Island Transfer Stations Steering committee was formed to develop the regulatory bylaw in June 1999 and Bylaw 2810 was adopted by the CRD in May 2002. Implementation of the bylaw began in November 2002.

The Salt Spring waste-transfer bylaw is being used as a template by Cowichan and Nanaimo districts as they design their own transfer-station regulations, he noted.

Local waste transfer issues are considered by a 10-member Salt Spring Island Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SSISWAC) composed of CRD and Islands Trust reps, and citizens.

"We're not here to favour one side or the other, but to find a balance," said Craveiro.