Saanich to explore zero-waste strategy

In an effort to divert more food waste, plastic and paper from the regional landfill, the District of Saanich wants its staff to develop a zero-waste strategy.

Staff have been given a year to research and develop a strategy that will see the municipality cut the 382 kilograms of waste disposed of by each resident annually down to the regional target of 250 kilograms by 2031.

On Monday night, Saanich council approved terms of reference.

Mayor Dean Murdock said staff will spend the next year identifying the kinds of initiatives that will make a difference, where residents and businesses can reduce and what activities will allow Saanich to “take a significant chunk out of the landfill or divert it from going into the landfill.”

“As a municipality, we saw that organic materials, paper materials continue to be a significant source of waste. And so even that aspect alone, if we’re able to reduce that on a per capita basis, would make a significant difference,” he said.

The Capital Regional District’s most recent waste-composition study showed Saanich’s waste was dominated by household hygiene products such as diapers, organics, paper and plastic.

“At least 56 per cent of this could have been diverted,” the report said, noting that half of that was made up of organics and compostable material and the other half were recyclables.

Saanich staff will review zerowaste plans, policies and bylaws from other municipalities, governments and organizations, as well as looking at its own wastemanagement practices.

The goal is to establish targets and ways of meeting them.

Coun. Karen Harper said the program should look at how to encourage better behaviour. “People are throwing into the garbage things that they don’t need to throw into the garbage.”

One option is to make the amount charged for recycling a lot lower than the amount charged for garbage, she said, so people “make sure that everything that ought to be recycled went into the recycling so that they didn’t have to use the garbage as much.”

Coun. Teale Phelps Bondaroff said he would like to see initiatives requiring companies to have less packaging, and ensuring those that produce the waste have to take it back.

Coun. Colin Plant added that he would like to exhaust all carrots before the district has to bring in any sticks to force compliance.

“If a stick approach becomes necessary, we will need to have demonstrated we’ve done everything we can to do the carrot option first because nobody in this region wants a landfill that is full,” he said.

The Saanich staff report suggested there has been some good news in recent years, as the amount of waste per person was increasing up until 2022.

The staff report credited the work of the City of Victoria and CRD to reduce construction, renovation, and demolition materials, and regional efforts to reduce organics from being sent to the landfill.

This year, Victoria beefed up its zero-waste program, which started in 2020 with a goal of cutting the city’s waste disposal in half by 2040 through wastereduction, recycling and re-use strategies.

Victoria introduced 16 initiatives in February, including developing a new solid-waste-collection service for multi-family buildings — a measure that alone could account for 4,100 tonnes of waste diverted from the landfill.

Saanich staff are expected to return to council with a full report in the second quarter of 2025.