Mount Work Coalition Heralds CRD Decision to Extend Consultation Period on Draft Solid Waste Management Plan

Mount Work Coalition Press Release

Mount Work Coalition Heralds CRD Decision to extend consultation period on draft Solid Waste Management Plan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 5, 2021
Victoria, BC

Mount Work Coalition (MWC) welcomes the recent decision of the CRD to extend the public consultation period on the draft Solid Waste Management Plan to February 15, 2021. MWC, along with other community groups. requested an extension so more people could have the opportunity to review and comment on the CRD’s draft Solid Waste Management 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. “This plan will dictate how we manage garbage and waste in our region for the next decade and beyond, from households to large industrial users”.

The Coalition opposes the “business-as-usual” plan put forward by the CRD which, if adopted, would see expansion of the landfill at Hartland. The expansion will remove 73 acres of forest, put additional pressure on nearby recreational areas in Mount Work Park, threaten the area’s 16 endangered species, and increase GHG and methane emissions.

Klimke noted 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 Ms. 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, running 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 twenty-first 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.

For more information contact Hugh Stephens, Spokesperson, Mount Work Coalition.

Mount Work Coalition 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.

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