Recycling
realities

Plans for a new dump here have some residents saying
Terrace’s attitude towards garbage has to change.

+
%

A special report by Joanna Wong

RESIDENT MIKE Rosenau says that Terrace needs to clean up its act and begin a a more accessible re-
cycling program. Plans are currently in the works to allow new materials like newsprint to be recycled.

"Recycling attitudes
in Terrace ‘pitiful’

PLANS FOR a new dump here have
some residents saying Terrace’s atti-
tude towards garbage stinks.

Lack of recycling options is be-
coming a.growing -concern..for resi-.
dents, outdoor. enthusiasts and: local

environmental.groups::; ,.

existent.”

According to Alisa Thompson, a
member of the Sierra Club, a local
environmental proup, conservative
philosophies on recycling are hold-

ing the city back.

_ “[The landfill is] the same thing
we currently have,” Thompson said.
“There's nothing in place to direct
material to somewhere other than a
landfill. It’s the status quo.”
“Resident James McGettigan says
that the dump should be developed
in conjunction with a more intensive
and organized recycling system.
“The dump has to go somewhere,
absolutely,” McGettigan said. “But
if a recycling program went with it
you’re reducing the amount of garb-
into the landfill and

age going
prolonging its life,”

ee Fabl pe
. “D think it’s pitiful,” said Thorn-
hill resident Mike Rosenau of local
recycling programs. “It’s almost non-

“We need a
continued.

wardship groups.

According to Kitimat-Stikine re-
gional district operations manager
Roger Tooms, plans to improve re-
cycling are in the works.

;But.due to concerns about ‘toxins
escaping: from. existing
i+. epriority has been -placed on:a new:
environmentally safer landfill site.

“Our goal is a long term landfill
to serve the region and we're close
to finalizing that goal,” said Toonis.
“When landfills are in place we can
focus more on waste reduction.

“There are just some
things we have to throw away and
yeah, maybe we do throw away a lot
more than other parts of the pro-
vince, but that doesn’t mean we’re
not going to focus on waste diversion
and put money into it.”

Tooms says that so far the regio-
nal district has actively promoted
waste diversion options by support-
ing local recycling programs, con-
trolled salvaging at the Terrace and
Thornhill dumps and provincial ste-

“We haven’t been here sitting on
our hands,” Tooms said.
“Our philosophy at the regional

landfills,

landfill,” Tooms

boost.

district is that we're not looking to
advance an
program,” he continued, “We want
to work with businesses.”

Currently the regional. district and
the: City of Terrace are hoping to
‘begin a newsprint recycling program.

Plans include the possible pur-
chase of a commercial paper bailer.

“We want to bring new materials
on-line [into recycling programs],”
said Brad North, plant foreman with
the city’s public works department.

According to North, the biggest
recycling obstacle is money.

With the state of the economy, he
says, Terrace is not in a position to
enforce strict recycling regulations.

“We don’t want to over regulate
businesses,”
pretty hard right now and we have to
be careful what we make them do.”

But Alisa Thompson says recyc-
ling creates jobs and should be
loaked at as a possible economic

in-house recycling

North said. “Times are

*There’s more employment in re-

cycling than in a landfill,” Thomp-

son said. “We need to look at the
big picture and try to make the bot-
tom line fit in with that.”

Going for

zero waste

LAURIE GALLANT
says recycling and eco-
nomic development can
happen together, and
her new project “Zero
Waste North hopes to
make it a reality for the
northwest.

The focus of the pro-
ject is to standardize
recycling services in
northern communities
and use environmental-
ly sustalnable products
and services to stimu-
late economic growth.

Find out more info @
www.zerowaste
north.com

From front

Dump hides trashy treasures

turn of the century fire ex-
tinguishers and put them
on display in his home.

Garbage can even make
nice gifts -— currently
Hache’s working on fixing
two old-style 1960s Tonka
toy trucks.

“I repaint them, make
them nice, give them to
my grandson,” he says.

Manager Tom Wilson
has been at the’ dump for

seyen years, and he says
the junk pile’s a stage for
soap-opera style high
drama.
Wilson recalls a time
when a man visited the
dump after his wife had

unexpectedly left him for a.

truck driver.

The man showed up
with a truckload of his
wife’s possessions, the
back of his pickup spilling

over with purses, clothes
and makeup.

Wilson says the man
threw all of it, even the
coins that fell out of the
purses, straight into the
junk pile.

“T said, ‘why don’t you
save it for the kids?’,” re-
members Wilson. “He said

he didn’t want anything of

hers around.”
Wilson reports since the

economy’s gone. down,
less and less good garbage
is being thrown out,

Bul buried deep deep
down in the junk piles,
there’s sure to still be col-
lectibles, silver platters
and other valuable trea-
sures just out of reach.

“There’s stuff buried in
that dump there 1 wish I

had for my retirement,” he

laughs.

THE PUSH is on to get
full approval for a new
dump on Forceman Ridge,
an area east of Qnion
Lake.

‘The site was selected
last September due to the
high costs of keeping the

“Terrace and Thornhill

landfills environmentally

safe.

Roger Tooms, the
operations manager at the
Kitimat-Stikine ‘regional
district, says the new site
was chosen because it is
relatively low risk.

“We consult with the
world,” Tooms said. "We
don’t want to impact on
anybody or anything in our
regional district.

The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, July 31, 2002 - AS

Officials say new
dump is ‘low risk’

McGettigan, however,
is still worried about the
impact to the potential re-
creational value of the
site,

“The dump has to go
somewhere, obviously, but
it still is a recreational
site,” said. McGettigan,
who estimates the climb-

ing area already has ‘at .

least 60 users who come

regularly from all over the-

northwest.

“With the economy the
way it is we should be try-
ing to boost tourism as
much as possible,” he
satd,

McGettigan is also wor-
Tied the dump will attract

still up in the air, it’s esti-
mated it willbe about $15
a month,

“IT recyele absolutely
everything and only go to
the dump about three
times a year,” said Thorn-
hill resident. Gary Maltin.
“In essence, I'm. getting
penalized $180. dollars a
year for recycling.”

: Tooms says the collec-
tion service. may be neces-
sary to-curb illegal garb-
age disposal in the bush.

“What we're. trying to
do is provide an alterna-
tive to self-hauling that’s
economical and conve-

This is our backyard
and we want to
maintain it as well

as we can,”
Currently, the
Forceman Ridge

site is being evalua-
ted by a variety of

“The dump has to go some-
where, obviously, but it still is
a recreational site.”

nient,” Tooms said. “The

fact is that the landfill is a
half hour drive
away.”

Brad North, plant
foreman for the City
of Terrace, says
he'd like to send the
city’s garbage to
another landfill as
soon as possible.

agencies, including
Environment Canada and
the Department of Fisher-
ies and Oceans Canada,

If the site is approved,
it’s estimated the Force-
man Ridge dump will take
three to five years to build.

But despite assurances
of a careful selection pro-
cess, some residents still
have concerns about the
new dump,

Resident and local rock
climber James McGettigan
says the new landfill will
be disturbingly close to the
Chist Creek forest service
recreation site frequented
by climbers,

“It’s hard to think of
going climbing and if
there's a strong wind one
day and smelling all that
garbage,” McGettigan
said.

Tooms maintains the
dump will be hidden by a
buffer of trees and also

points out that there is an‘

alternate access: route--to
the climbing area that
doesn't go past the dump.

more bears.

He says many outdoor
enthusiasts use the area for
camping, and near the
dump on the other side of
the highway are cross-
country skiing trails.

Tooms says that based
on his experience with
landfills, he has no con-
cerns with bears.

“We know that electric
fences keep bears out of
landfills without a doubt,
particularly new landfills,”
said Tooms, who adds that
there will be two electric
fences around the site just
to be safe.

“(The bears] will be al-
tracted, they will exper-
ience that electric fence
for the first time and they
won't come back,” he
said.

Other issues include a
new mandatory garbage
collection fee that may be
charged to Thornhill and

-North Terrace residents:::+°:

Although the details
and cost of the service are

Currently, toxic li-
quid from the Terrace
landfill (known as lea-
chate) is seeping into the
Kitsumkalum river.

“We all know there’s
leachate affecting the river
in some way,” North said.
“We want to close [the
Terrace dump] down as
soon as we can,”

North says closing the
Terrace dump isn’t going
to cost as much as pre-
viously expected.

Estimated costs are
down from $1.5 million to
about $300,000, with
$200,000 of that total
going towards fixing the
leachate problem.

“That's really cheap for

closing a landfill,” said;

North,

’ The Thornhill dump will
also be slowly phased out,
with closure costs of at
least $750,000.

lf approved, the new
Foreman Ridge dump will

- cost) $3:5: million “up -front

and is expected to last a
minimum of 50 years.

_WHERE CAN IT GO? _

Antifreeze

Appliances

Beverage

Cars

Car
Batteries .

Car
Olls/Filters

Containers
Bicycles
Clothing

Compast
(Yard&Garden)

Corrugated
Cardhoard
Furniture
Glass
Metals
Office paper
Paint
Pesticides
Solvents

Flammables

Plastics —

Tires

Toys

Return to retailer

Salvation Army, Flea Market

Terrace Bottle Depot
Terrace Bottle Depot
Terrace .Botile Depot

_. These materials (cleaners, weed killers) are better -
= Used up or given away for further use. -

RECYCLING IN the Northwest is not quite as hard as it might seem.
Drive, walk or bike a few blocks and you'll find most products can be re-
cycled and almost everything can find a new home.

Working? Salvation Army, Buy and Sell Stores.
Not working? Landfill (tipping fee may apply and
refrigeration substances must be removed).
Return to Retailer (no milk or milk)

SKB Auto Salvage, Riverside Auto Salvage
Landfill (tipping fee may apply and tires/fluids must
be removed)

Bold Salvage, Huggies’s Recycling
Landfills (see attendant)

Return to retailer (Mohawk, Canadian Tire)”

Terrace Bottle Depot (encorp agent), Changes...
Salvation Army, Landfill (reuse area) Y

Classy Consignments, Salvation Army
Mills Memoria] Auxiliary Thrift Shep .

City of Terrace Curbside Collection -
Backyard, Landfill (compost area)

Terrace Bottle Depot, Changes
Boxboard (cereal boxes) also accepted

Terrace Bottle Depot (insed/labels left. on)
Bold Salvage, Huggie's Recycling, Landfill: 7
Changes (rinsed/labels on, selectad brand only)

- Grocery bags (Safeway and Save-on-Foods)
Milk Jugs {accapted at Bottle Depot, Changes)
_. Plastics from selected brands accepted at Changes

e : Return to retailer: Canadian Tire, Cederland Tire |
~~, Kalum Tire

Mills Memorial Auxiliary Thrift Shop, Salvation Army
“Intormation n courte City of Terrace and Kitimat.Stikine Regional D District