FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 26 2014 VOL. 41, NO. 38
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Watch for more online at: WWW.BOWENISLANDUNDERCURRENT.COM
Encounters and appearances This summer’s happenings in local waters
An ode to the atmosphere
The first in a series of essays on climate change
Not quite a treasure hunt
IPS students help clean-up our beaches
Report examines feasability of composting green waste locally MERIBETH DEEN EDITOR
Back in May, when council rejected a request for $10,000 to study the feasibility of using the Gore Composting method to process Bowen’s domestic organic wasteon island, the Knick Knack Nook stepped in with funding. The resulting report, written by Mateo Ocejo of Net Zero Waste, says that setting up a composting facility on Bowen could save money in comparison to shipping it off, but that the small scale does present challenges to its cost-effectiveness. Members of the Bowen Island Football Club, under-six squad warm up during a practice on “The green waste collected from Monday. Their coaches, Deidre Farah (right) and Neil Dawe are being assisted by youth mentor residences on Bowen is not weighed, coaches including Escher Lorenz, above. but I had to assume that 1,000 Meribeth Deen, photo tonnes of waste could be collected per year, even though it is probably somewhat less than that, currently,” says Ocejo, who spent a day on Bowen touring potential composting sites and also the recycling depot. “The smaller the volume of waste you are processing, the higher the cost. But when you consider future ing his disagreement with the report’s findings. In par- growth as well as buy-in and other MERIBETH DEEN ticular, Stone said that report did not factor in the eco- opportunities that come up as the EDITOR system starts running, it is fair to say nomic downturn, a fluctuating Canadian dollar, fewer that the amount of waste the comvisits from the US, increased fuel prices, and reduced On Wednesday morning, community leaders attendmunity has to process will increase business travel as impacting traffic on BC Ferries. ing the Union of BC Municipality’s (UBCM) annual Larose says that he used statistical controls to ensure over time.” convention in Whistler voted unanimously in supOcejo says that he recommends those factors were not to blame for the downturn in port of a resolution requesting the province of British that municipalities trying to get more ferry traffic. Columbia to reverse changes made to ferry services and organic waste out of the regular gar“Every other form of transportation in British fares in April 2014. bage system conduct a waste audit. Columbia saw growth between 2003 and 2013,” says The request is based on data collected in a study on “You take ten homes at random Larose. “If external factors were to blame, it wouldn’t the socio-economic impacts on changes to the ferry and open up their garbage. By just be BC Ferries that saw a decline.” system called, “Boatswains to the Bollards.” The study weighing the garbage, you can estiBowen Island councilor Tim Rhodes says that he is was conducted by an independent consultant hired by ecstatic about outcome of the UBCM vote on this issue. mate how much organic waste is in the UBCM, Peter Larose. “We are hoping, that moving forward the ministry will there,” he says. “From there, when Prior to the vote, Larose spoke to a crowd of delthe garbage is collected you have start to work with coastal communities on short term egates, mostly from ferry dependent communities, in the collectors leave what we call a mitigations and long-term transportation solutions.” defense. The provincial Minister of Transportation, love-note to the residents if they Todd Stone, wrote a four page letter to the UBCM statdo things like wrap their organics
Union of BC Municipality members vote unanimously in support of resolution on BC Ferries
in plastic, or throw diapers into the green bin. The note explains why they did not pick up the bin – this is part of the education process.” Ocejo says that as the composting facility starts operating and churning out a high quality product, buy-in tends to increase. “When people are the beneficiaries of the high quality fertilizer produced from this process, they tend to consider what they’re putting into it more closely. You start peeling the stickers off your fruit before you throw them into the bin, you stop throwing your banana peels in the garbage.” The city of Abbottsford started running a Gore Composting facility in January of 2013, and diversion rates from the regular waste stream increased monthly for the first six months. The system is also predicted to save the city $300, 000 in its first year of operation. In his report, Ocejo says that after donating 500 yards of finished compost and soil products to schools and community groups on Bowen, more than $20,000 in revenues could be generated through the annual sale of compost and soil products. Ocejo says that composting facilities of a similar size are up and running (in Sechelt, and Cumberland) but if Bowen were to go forward with creating a composting facility, it would be the first island to do so. “Both Pender and Saltspring are looking into this system, because the costs of shipping waste to the mainland is going up alongside ferry costs,” says Ocejo. “Bowen is a step-ahead. Moving forward would require public support to make the investment, but it would pay itself off quickly.” continued, PAGE 8
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