What is Burns Lake willing to do to reopen its re-use shed? This was the big question at a meeting hosted by the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako (RDBN) in Burns Lake.
Mayor Luke Strimbold and about 20 local residents voiced their opinions on the value of the re-use shed on Oct. 21, 2015.
Participants were anxious to come up with solutions to keep the shed open and continue safe salvaging, as a number of participants felt the decision by the RDBN was ‘throwing the baby out with the bath water.’ One participant commented, “The majority of people who are well behaved are being punished when it’s the minority who need to be held accountable for their behavior.”
Discussion on solutions included installing video cameras and more signs, barriers, and implementing fines and fees. Mayor Strimbold wondered if it was a matter of design.
“The other question around the re-use shed is: is it too small, should it be open, what is the layout that would deter bad behavior?”
One participant felt it was matter of public awareness, explaining “I think with education people are more committed, if we don’t hear about it or know about it, I think most people just assume that everything’s good until one day we go up to use the re-use shed and there’s a big sign there saying it’s closed, and it’s a shock because we didn’t realize there were problems; I don’t think it has to get to that point.”
Another participant was interested in what other regional districts have done in similar situations.
Janine Dougal, Director of Environmental Services for the RDBN, replied, “The only way that [other re-use sheds] have been really effective is if they’re staffed, [and/or] have limited hours so that there’s control; it’s a little bit of a more structured scenario and it’s additional staffing.”
As Dougal described what the costs would be for extra staffing across the district, one participant commented, “So if we hired somebody it would be $9 a year [for a house valued at $100,000] and so the question is how committed are we as a community to recycling, if it’s $9 a year what the heck are we complaining about?”
Bill Miller, RDBN’s Director of Electoral Area B, wanted to ensure that people realized the re-use shed isn’t free.
“We all pay for that service [through taxes] and that’s an important part in what we need from you is how much you’re willing to pay,” he said.
Miller continued, “The easiest and cheapest thing for us to do is to [throw everything out] and bury it, but it’s not cheaper in the long run; it’s way more expensive, so what we have to do is, as individuals, we have to make a commitment to recycle and reuse.”
Dougal justified the decision to shut down salvaging and the re-use shed by describing incidents involving parents leaving children unattended, and live ammunition and prescription medication being left in the sheds, among other dangerous materials.
“With the needle incident, this was four boxes of over a hundred used hypodermic needles mixed in with kid’s blocks [toys] at one of our sites,” she said.
In response to a question from a participant, Dougal confirmed that there had also been a number of injuries at the Burns Lake site although she wasn’t able to confirm a specific number.
“We have people who are trying to salvage from the metal piles and our attendants are in there trying to push up the metal, and these individuals who are doing this are the ones are getting into conflicts with our attendants; we’re trying to say to them we’re sorry you can’t climb the pile, you can’t send your kid up the pile, and it’s creating conflict.”
Dougal added that, “This is not a knee jerk reaction, this is something we feel as staff we’ve been looking at for a good two or three years; this isn’t working well anymore; we’ve tried to put up sings, we’ve tried to put up barriers we’ve tried to talk to people; and I’ve tried to talk to people myself, and I’ve been sworn at.”
Dougal further explored the reasoning behind the decision, explaining that in the past sheds worked well.
“We had volunteers; people respected them [re-use sheds]; people loved them; and were able to get great things out of them, you feel great giving stuff so that it’s not going into the landfill, it has huge positives if done well; no one’s arguing that.”
What has changed according to Dougal is the marked increase in the last couple years of incidents of aggressive behavior and inappropriate materials coming into the sheds.
“The majority of the general public are absolutely wonderful people,” she said. “It’s these few folks that are really causing some rather serious concerns and some rather significant liability and so that’s why we’re here tonight, because we’re not here to disagree with the benefits, but how do we control that [behavior]?”
Dougal concluded the meeting by acknowledging that in her experience change is always difficult.
“Now we’re shifting towards a new era where waste isn’t garbage anymore, it’s a resource,” she said. “So when we’re done with something in our home we shouldn’t look at something as garbage to throw out; we really need to look at that and think, ‘Okay how do I get the best value out of what’s left in the life of that product;’ it really has to be grassroots community efforts that really drive recycling and reuses.”
The RDBN is still accepting feedback from community members on solutions. Dougal hopes to have feedback compiled as soon as possible to present it before the board of directors in order to investigate the feasibility of different ideas.
Any members of the public interested in providing feedback can pick up a form at the RDBN office and submit it in person, by mail or by email.