A trip to the landfill with construction or demolition waste is going to cost more if you don’t sort your loads. Starting September 1, 2011, the Regional Oistrict of Okanagan-Similkameen (RODS) will be enforcing updated bylaws and landfill tipping fees. The changes mean lower fees for sorted materials and increased costs for co-mingled (un-sorted) loads delivered to landfills.
RDOS solid waste facilities coordinator, Don Hamilton, encourages those conducting any demolition, renovation or construction (DRC) work to sort materials on site.
“These changes are a sign of our changing attitude and our ability to reduce what we put in our landfills,” explains Hamilton. “Changing technologies have increased what can be recycled.
Today many of the materials that were formerly buried in landfills are now recyclable. A trip to the landfill is nothing like it was 50 years ago or even 15 years ago.”
Today landfills try to divert and recycle materials rather than just bury the waste. There are piles for metal, clean scraps of gypsum board, clean wood, roofing shingles and other valuable materials. These materials are shipped out of the landfill to be reused or recycled.
Those bringing co-mingled (mixed together) DRC materials to the Campbell Mountain, Okanagan Falls or Oliver landfills will see an increase in tipping fees as of September 1.
Campbell Mountain will see co-mingled DRC materials increase from $200 to $400 per tonne.
Okanagan Falls and Oliver will both increase charges from $125 to $150 per tonne for comingled DRC material.
Businesses and residents can now achieve significant savings in tipping fees by sorting recyclable DRC waste. Sorted DRC materials can be brought to the landfill or local businesses, such as scrap metal yards, at a reduced cost.
In cases where DRC materials must be co-mingled, residents and businesses are encouraged to use local DRC sorting facilities. Local businesses that can sort DRC materials are in development. These facilities have the potential to offer cheaper disposal fees by sorting loads before delivery to the landfill.
Hamilton states that the end goal of the changes will be to increase recycling and reuse, create local jobs and divert DRC material to the Okanagan Falls landfill away from the Campbell Mountain landfill. The Okanagan Falls landfill is now one of the few specialized facilities for the recycling and disposal of demolition, land clearing and construction waste in British Columbia.
“It’s shown that recycling and reuse create 5 to 10 times the number of jobs when compared to throwing resources in a landfill,” says Hamilton. “Those are local jobs we are losing when we encourage people to put everything in the garbage.”