Curbside pickup considered

A member of the Columbia Shuswap Regional District’s public and technical advisory committee says now is the time to bring curbside waste services to Sicamous.

At the District of Sicamous council meeting on Wednesday, Jennifer Taylor, a citizen representative on the committee, gave a presentation about bringing a curbside waste management program to Sicamous.

“There is a long history of discussion and no action in regards to curbside service in Sicamous,” Taylor said.

“We have fallen behind our member municipalities in this regard and I am asking the council to catch up."

She also asked the district to collaborate with the CSRD and member municipalities on a solid waste management plan as required by the Ministry of the Environment.

Taylor said she was disappointed not to have seen any council members or technical representation from the district of Sicamous at the latest committee meeting she had attended. She pointed out that the CSRD, Recycle BC, Golden, Revelstoke and Salmon Arm all sent representatives to the meeting.

“During this 3.5-hour in person meeting, many questions arose which required a Sicamous representative,” she said.

“When the CSRD discussed needing to find ways of disposing of wood waste I asked if the wood wasted could potentially be used in Sicamous’ Bioheat facility, unfortunately there was no information available.”

She felt a representative from Sicamous would have been beneficial for other topics that were discussed as well including compliance issues at landfills, public education about recycling, and better transfer station locations.

“I feel the whole of Sicamous lost an opportunity by not having a technical representative attend the meeting,” she added.

No referendum necessary

Taylor believes it is past time to bring curbside recycling to Sicamous and a referendum would not be necessary to start the service.

“When I was last here the mayor suggested that it was my job to convince the population of Sicamous to adopt a curbside program and that a referendum would have to pass,” Taylor said. “I heartedly refute this.”

She pointed out that an electoral assent process like a referendum is not necessary to start a municipal service only a regional district service.

“Curbside programs are collaborative and not the job of one individual,” she explalined. “Our other member municipalities have already done the work for us making it much easier for us to provide the service to our residents if we work with them to make it happen.”

In 2011 the District of Sicamous sent out a survey to ask if residents were interested in a curbside recycling program however they received responses from less than 40 percent of the residents surveyed and the responses they did receive were largely negative about the service.

Taylor finished her presentation by urging councillors to collaborate with Salmon Arm to get a curbside recycling program running in Sicamous.

“I urge this council to end this era of what appears to me to be apathy in the management of solid waste and to move forward in a responsible way that reflects 2024 needs for limiting use of landfills,” she said. “I encourage this council to collaborate with Salmon Arm to get a curbside service up and running.”

Coun. Siobhan Rich said she was impressed by Taylor’s passion for the subject matter.

“I know that you show up here often, and you write lots of letters, but I think what you're doing is educating us,” Coun. Rich said.

“We've all just gone to the dump forever, and I think we do need to change and I think what you're bringing to this community is huge.”

Coun. Bob Evans said he believes some council members will be willing to attend quarterly PTAC meetings going forward, if provided with dates ahead of time.

In the end, Coun. Gord Bushell asked staff to add the possibility of a curbside waste management program to the next committee of the whole meeting for further discussion and Rich invited Taylor to come to that meeting to be part of the discussion.