Disposal of up to four cubic metres (approximately a pick-up truck load) of green waste is now free for both small-scale contractors and residents at Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) green waste sites. At the June 27 board meeting landfill site fees were amended and restrictions on accepting green waste from business customers at its south coast site were removed.
Larger volume green waste loads or ones that weigh more than half a tonne will be charged $86 per tonne under the new fee schedule. The per tonne charge will only be able to be assessed at the Pender Harbour Transfer Station, located just off Garden Bay Road, as the SCRD’s green waste site at 915 Henry Road in the Elphinstone area does not have a scale.
Staff at the meeting explained the change was implemented to streamline systems. They said it would also remove the burden on staff working the southern sites of trying to determine whether loads coming to the site were from a resident doing their own property maintenance or a landscape contractor.
The amendments were a positive move in the view of Gibsons area director Silas White, who said “I literally get correspondence every day from people who struggle with this”.
Site assessments and audits may follow
The SCRD's two green waste depots offer Coasters an alternative to disposing of yard waste material at Salish Soils, in Sechelt. That private enterprise also accepts green waste from residential customers for no charge, but people living in the far northern and southern areas of the lower Coast can be up to an hour's drive away from that location.
The staff report on the meeting agenda noted that although the SCRD pays its green waste processing and hauling contractor under separate agreements for all green waste collected, the change “should not create immediate financial implications to the SCRD’s green waste service”. It also recommended that a financial assessment be conducted at year-end to determine any impacts from the rate adjustment.
Area E director Donna McMahon asked that an audit of the green waste sites be conducted, reminding all that “if we don’t measure it, we can’t manage it”. She expressed an interest in knowing more about where waste received at each of the sites comes from, the ratio of residential versus commercial use and if loads containing invasive plants are being accepted.
Staff stated that undertaking such a project would require resource allocation and that a proposal to the 2025 budget process could be considered.
