Waste management update for Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako

On Oct. 7, the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako received an update from its waste management committee on department activity.

Lakes District News spoke to chair of the Waste Management Committee and Director of Electoral Area A Mark Fisher, about the details of what was discussed in the update.

“Mostly, it was about keeping staff up to date with various projects and initiatives. One big project currently in progress is landfill development in the region,” he said. “We also requested an update for the next RDBN committee meeting on a pilot project called the agriculture plastics recycling program.”

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Another talking point was the issue of salvaging. The RDBN requested a discussion for its next meeting on how to move forward with metal salvaging, how to encourage clean use, and a potential revenue loss should there be too much metal to salvage.

Also on the list of discussion points according to Fisher, was the waste stream of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. The RDBN accepts waste for recycling from sections that fall within their limits. “There’s a lot of extra waste from the camps — both solid and liquid. What needs to be monitored is how the RDBN accepts that waste without losing money on it,” said Fisher. “We can’t be subsidizing industry, so we have to make sure the arrangement for us accepting waste from the pipeline is cost neutral.”

Fisher also told Lakes District News that a big initiative that the RDBN waste committee is undertaking is to bring in three youth across the regional district to provide a new perspective. “It’s their future,” said Fisher. “When it comes to recycling and environmental practices, we want to bring in some new voices and new ways of thinking, and the RDBN wants to establish relationships with a younger demographic because we want to hear that voice.”

According to Fisher, job postings for these positions will be out very soon.