They hope to be an example for those in current and future housing developments to emulate.
The 1212 Main Street Refuse Management Committee, as they prefer to be called, has created a simple and efficient system of reducing and recycling that has diverted a considerable amount of waste from the Squamish Landfill.
The diversion rate of the Aqua at Coastal Village complex at the southernmost end of downtown was at 57 per cent from October to September of this year; up from 37 per cent during the same time span in 2013, according to Carney’s Waste Management.
Put another way, over the past year, Aqua residents diverted 48 metric tons of items that would otherwise have filled up the already bursting-at-the-seams landfill.
Four years ago Bill Cavanagh and Peter Lang, residents and dedicated refuse-management enthusiasts, formed a committee, which now boasts five members, to tackle the smelly garbage disposal room at Aqua.
Originally, the room wasn’t organized and didn’t contain sufficient bins. According to the committee, the current odourless, well-organized basement room contains: Six totes for paper, six for containers, three for composting, two totes for refundable items, two totes for soft plastics, one tote for glass, one for Styrofoam, one skip for cardboard, one skip for garbage and small containers for batteries and light bulbs.
Refundable items have generated $10,000 over two years for the building’s strata.
The strata used the money for handicap access doors in the garage and on the main floor.
Lang said it took some time to get buy-in from the 320 residents in 127 units in the building. “It is an ongoing education process,” he said. “We find that new people coming in, whether it is new owners or renters, they need to be reminded. Some are really impressed when they walk down there the first time… and then others just have a bag and they throw it.”
The committee’s goal for the next three years is to reduce the amount of waste from their complex even further.
Currently, each person is tossing out 634 kilograms (nearly 1,400 pounds) of trash per year. The goal is to reduce that by 55 per cent to 350 kilograms per person, per year, within three years.
It is no secret that the Squamish Landfill is nearing capacity.
The current council has voted to pursue vertical expansion of the landfill at a total cost of close to $6 million by 2019.
If the current flow of trash to the site continues, however, the expanded landfill will be again at capacity in 2025.
The District of Squamish has recently adopted a Zero Waste Strategy with an ambitious goal of diverting 75 per cent of trash from the landfill by 2020.
Cavanagh hopes the community can do better.
He wants to see developers design their buildings with zero waste in mind.
Email Cavanagh at [email protected] or call 604-848-8207 for more information.
Carney’s Waste Systems also works with groups and developers who want to reduce their waste.
Call 604-892-5604.
