The District of Vanderhoof has rejected the provinces Incentive program offered by Multi-Material BC (MMBC) for curbside recyclables collection.
If Vanderhoof were to accept the conditions of MMBC then the district would have to purchase a second garbage truck resulting in a net loss of about $73,000/year. And the other option would have been to only use one truck but this would reduce garbage collection from weekly to bi-weekly. The second option would cost the district about $10,000/year.
The Stewardship Plan for Packaging and Printed Paper is concept designed by MMBC after new recycling regulations introduced in the province. The goal is force consumers and producers to pay for recycling and save taxpayers money. But this means that each community must front the cost to get the program up and running. Even the City of Prince George has rejected the offer.
"I'm currently hearing from all the other mayors I met with in the regional district and everybody is responding either that they totally reject or that they would accept it if it was done under different formulas," said Vanderhoof Mayor Gerry Thiessen. "We've heard from no communities who have accepted joining up with their program."
Only the bowl area from the river to Prince George hill has service currently. The district is going to look at what kind of service Vanderhoof really needs since when the community was expanding, the decision was made to not collect garbage in the expanded area at the time.
"We certainly want to see recycling come to Vanderhoof," said Thiessen. "If this is a provincial program then it has to meet the needs of communities in northern rural British Columbia. The offer that they gave to us, they said that they were willing to negotiate with us but each time our staff talked to them there was no negotiation."