RDCK seeks restrictions on use of new Nelson transfer station property
By Nelson Daily Editor
The regional district is taking some issue with the new waste transfer station site in Nelson, and will be trying to get restrictions placed on the types of waste management activities the site can undertake.
Regional District of Central Kootenay’s (RDCK) Central Resource Recovery Committee has recommended the board of directors ask staff to pursue opportunities to formally restrict the types of waste management activities on the proposed future transfer station site located on regional district land.
The direction comes in response to public concerns regarding future site development and a perception that land filling, incineration, or large-scale composting may be planned for the facility.
“Land filling, composting, and waste incineration are not in the plan for the Nelson Transfer Station,” said Ramona Faust, director for RDCK Area E where the transfer station will be located.
The RDCK is requesting the Ministry of Environment issue an operational certificate for the proposed transfer station, located at the end of Insight Drive in Blewett.
The certificate would list land filling, composting, and waste incineration as unapproved activities for the site.
Operational certificates, which are a regulatory requirement for landfills, are normally not issued for transfer stations since the environmental impacts of those facilities are assumed to be minimal.
Not only are those activities inconsistent with the RDCK’s overall plan for resource recovery services at that facility, she said, but the location and topography of the new site would inhibit their implementation.
“That being said, we acknowledge that these activities do not fit with the vision Blewett residents have for the future of their community and, for that reason, we are attempting to formalize these restrictions to provide piece of mind,” Faust said.
The RDCK’s waste management activities are regulated by the Province and guided by the Regional District’s Resource Recovery Plan, which was adopted in late 2010 after an extensive public consultation process.
Any deviation from this plan or implementation of activities that are inconsistent with an operational certificate would require additional public consultation.
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