In this week’s Council Meeting the issue of waste management came up yet again when it was revealed that the conversion of Clarenville’s dump to a “Transfer Station” is coming quickly – possibly within two months.
By way of background, about 6 years ago the Province decided
that it would reduce the number of dumps in NL. All garbage from Clarenville east would be
shipped to Robin Hood Bay in St. John’s.
A “Transfer Station” was to be established in Clarenville to act as a central
collection point. Essentially, our Town’s dump would be converted from a “final
resting place” to a temporary holding place.
Shipping heavy garbage is expensive and you, the taxpayer, are
the one who will pay for it. The transfer station means that your taxes will go
up to cover this costs of shipping – by about 10% or $180 a year – depending on
the amount of garbage shipped.
To minimize costs to taxpayers, Government has encouraged
municipalities to separate garbage into recyclables, compostables, building
waste, and whatever garbage was left. Ideally
only the garbage that was left would be sent to the so-called Super-dump in
Robin Hood bay.
No plans exits in Clarenville
The ensuing Council discussion that came from Tuesday’s revelation
clearly demonstrates that Council has adopted a "head in the sand" approach to this topic. For the past number of years municipalities were encouraged
to develop and implement a waste diversion strategy to separate garbage and thereby reduce their shipping costs. Clearly Clarenville has not done that nor has it developed any plan to do that.
The more we ship to St. John's the more it will cost us. Based on our current practices, that cost will likely be high.
This situation is yet another example of the need for better planning capacity within our growing town. The costs of NOT planning may not show up on the Town's financial statements but the ramifications and costs are all too visible.
In politics, timing is everything
Note that if this planned schedule holds true, it will be just in time for September's municipal elections. It’s unlikely that you will have anyone to blame for your new tax bill and it's equally unlikely that there will be a plan to minimize it.
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You can listen to Council's discussion at The Packet's website - May 7, 2013 (at about five minutes into the meeting)
See on this topic:
http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2013/01/a-plea-for-less.html
http://www.thepacket.ca/News/2012-12-13/article-3139648/Rethinking-waste/1
See on this topic:
http://ourtownclarenville.blogspot.ca/2013/01/a-plea-for-less.html
http://www.thepacket.ca/News/2012-12-13/article-3139648/Rethinking-waste/1
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