Don’t bury this report
People talk a good game about caring for the environment — but what happens when they have to pay to get rid of their waste?
Wednesday, there was plenty of public commentary about the province’s decision to bring in a ban on single-use plastic bags at the beginning of July. The same day, late in the afternoon, the province released a review of its overall waste management strategy.
It’s got some good ideas — but they sure aren’t free.
The review looks at both moving the province’s waste management system further into modern times and finding money from consumers to pay for the changes.
It is somewhat of an inside-out report. For example, it essentially starts with the reprint of the provincial government’s entire 2002 waste strategy document, followed by an in-depth review of the results of a public consultation that received a grand total of 107 responses, province-wide.
But it also has some suggestions for increased fees: increasing the deposit on non-alcoholic beverage containers from eight cents to 10 cents apiece, increasing the cost of tire recycling levies from $3 for small tires and $9 for larger tires to $4.50 and $13.50, respectively — a move that would collect an addition $1.5 million in fees from tire purchasers in the province every year.
It also suggests applying the tire levy through the Motor Registration Division to cars brought into the province. “(Between) 2011 and 2018, over 14,000 vehicles were imported into the province from the United States alone. Applying a weighted average fee on these vehicle tires, over $400,000 in additional revenue could have been collected,” the report points out.
There’s an examination of handing new recycling responsibilities over to the manufacturers of specific products, which would then build the costs of those programs into their prices.
And the report also recommends a planning strategy to divert organic material from the province’s landfills — organics now account for about 30 per cent of the material being dumped.
At the same time, the report cautions that the “environmental benefits come at considerable cost… (A consultant) suggests that over 30 years, the net present value costs associated with each of the seven scenarios exceeds $100 million. Annual cost estimates total $6 (million)-$7 million for each option.”
Because of those substantial costs, “Much more consultation, and public education and awareness, will be important to get the buy-in necessary to support effective implementation of any major new composting programs.”
Altogether, it’s a broad-ranging move forward on a variety of waste-management fronts, each of which carry costs that are greater, to put it bluntly, than simply digging a hole, burying your problems (for now at least) and trying to forget about them.
What remains to be seen is whether the provincial government will find the gumption to actually put the changes — and their attendant costs — in place.