I was going, but not now: Waste management board chair spurns business group demand

A request for the resignation of the board of directors of the Central Regional Services Board is actually going to cause the chair to stay in that position longer than he has to.

Allan Scott, who heads up the group, said the demand from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) that he and the other members vacate their seats will not be acted on.

"My commitment to this position was up at the end of 2016, and I was looking forward to [completing it]," Scott said. "Not with this on the go, I certainly wouldn't do it and walk away from the board."

The mandate of the other board members ends when municipal elections are held in September of this year.

Increasing costs

CFIB Director of Provincial Affairs Vaughn Hammond said the decision to call for the resignation of the board comes after much consideration by his group.

"I think it is the level of frustration felt by members in the region right now," he said.  "It is not a request that was taken lightly. There was some thought put into it."  

Hammond said member businesses are concerned about increasing costs at the central Newfoundland waste management facility in Norris Arm North, which is operated by the Central Regional Services Board.

"Every year since 2014, we've seen an increase in tipping fees," he said.

"This year, when members saw that the tipping fee was going to $136 per ton for non-recyclables and the $30 per ton for cardboard, it was just one of those things where they said 'where does it end?' I guess this is the culmination now of all the frustration that has happened over the last four or five years."

Hammond said they've worked for at least four years to make the board realize the solution to waste management in the region is not increasing tipping fees.

He also said his members are concerned that personnel at the central waste management facility are allowing materials to be disposed of incorrectly.

"What's been happening is there has been an uneven application of the regulations, meaning that some business owners or some customers can keep their waste together and dispose of it and we don't know if it is being recycled or not," he said.

"Many members who have taken on the cost of source separation are looking around and seeing it is not being applied to others to the same extent that it is being applied to them. They are wondering why they even have to bother to do it."

Checks in place

Allan Scott said this is not the case, and there are checks and balances at the facility to ensure the proper fees are charged to users.

"If somebody was to go in and plugged in the lower rate when they scanned their card, and said it was all cardboard they had on board, we have a scaler operator," he said. "They know what the individual scanned in. They know what an individual has because it shows up on a screen."

He said they are seeing an increase of recyclable material leaving the facility.

"We're shipping over 300 tons a month to market as recyclable product," he said. "The businesses in central ... they wanted to be a part of this system, they wanted to do the right thing for the environment."