Recycling service throughout the area will continue for at least another year.
Regional District of Fraser-Fort George board members voted unanimously Thursday to extend their contract with Cascades Recovery through the end of next May. But they did so with the intent to use the next 12 months to launch an all-out offensive to get the provincial government to change the terms of the new packaging and printed paper stewardship program rolling out on Monday.
Last year, the regional district renegotiated their contract for the recycling drop bin service with the expectation that when the new program began, responsibility for collection would switch to producers.
But Multi-Material B.C. (MMBC), the group that is representing the producers the province mandated as having to recover the material they put into the marketplace, did not set up a collection system for any community in the local regional district outside of Prince George.
The city will have a curbside collection system for single-family homes that already receive municipal garbage pick up beginning in September.
Regional district directors had the choice of not renewing their recycling contract, which expires May 31, bridging it to the start of the curbside service in Prince George in September, or extending it to the end of May 2015.
"Why would we want our taxpayers to pay for a service MMBC is supposed to be paying for? The obvious answer to that is 'no more. We are not going to pay a dime as of the point MMBC's supposed to take over,'" said Coun. Cameron Stolz. "Looking at it from a stewardship point of view, by all means we must recycle and we have to provide that service no matter what the cost is. The challenge is MMBC has done this, in my opinion, rather deliberately. So how do we reach that balance?"
The balance came in the form of a proposal from Area C director Lara Beckett, who received unanimous support to continue the Cascades contract through next May, with the caveat that the City of Prince George residents would only pay for it through the end of 2014. The cost of the 2015 portion would be divided amongst the remaining three member municipalities and rural communities.
"[Cascades] has been good partners with us and if we go this route, and make that decision today so we can have a stability of service for ourselves and our citizens over the next year, it might increase some rural access, it gives us fiscal certainty," said Beckett.
The regional district's financial plan for solid waste management plan, developed in late 2012, assumed the local government would be covering the cost of recycling, said chief administrator Jim Martin, so there is money in the existing budget to fund the service extension.
Prince George Mayor Shari Green said she wasn't a fan of extending the contract into the new year, but ultimately supported the proposal.
"For me, it's still challenging, because I think it's a pass for MMBC that for a year they don't have to worry about us. But that's for us to push back on, as opposed to expect them to react," she said.
Key to getting that push back will be a concerted and unified effort not only from the local regional district, but from the remainder of the province's local governments that are not receiving recycling service in the first roll out of the MMBC program.
Part of that will come in the form creating a lobbying and communications strategy towards other communities and provincial ministers.
"It's not just once a week, it's every time we meet or run into your MLA or run into an MLA or run into someone you talk to them and... continue and continue it, and that's the only thing," said Mackenzie Mayor Stephanie Killam, noting the same pressure needs to be applied to and from the public. "They need to be aware and they need to say 'this is wrong, we need to deal with it.' Not go out and have rallies and scream and rant and rave, but you do it as a one on one so that they understand that we are upset and things need to change."
The city's influence in coming to a resolution for the issue was noticeable during the Thursday session, with other directors thanking the city for their support and both Area G director Terry Burgess and Valemount Mayor Andru McCracken referencing discussions they've had with Green and Stolz.
"[City councillors are] worried about the same things we are as a rural communities and rural parts, so that's really heartening," said McCracken. "I also understand that I think there's some experience from the city's side, that in order to have an effect on the province's decision, you kind of need to go with guns blazing. So we need to work on that as a group."
And while Stolz noted that the regional district was "scrambling" to come to a decision, given the lack of advance notice they had from MMBC that service wouldn't be coming to the smaller communities, McCracken said they shouldn't be surprised given the track record of forcing programs that have worked elsewhere onto the northern environment.
"I feel kind of duped, naive, not a good leader in the sense of not sniffing this out from before," he said, adding he sincerely believed that a drop-depot would be in place for his community and that since the province had allowed money to be collected, service was going to increase. "So that's a dupe. What we've been left with here is the opportunity to spend more for the same. That is the net result of this new legislation."
Under the extended contract with Cascades, the 10 drop bins currently located in the city will be relocated to rural transfer stations that don't have recycling service in October. The company has also proposed lower collection rates and processing costs.
