Vancouver Sun

Metro Vancouver forecasts it will face a $6-million deficit next year in its waste management budget — and will likely have to rethink its entire solid waste management plan — if commercial haulers are allowed to continue dumping garbage outside the region.

The regional district has been waiting for the past year for a decision from the provincial government on its controversial Bylaw 280 proposal, which would require that garbage generated in Metro Vancouver be processed at regional facilities. Metro argues the bylaw is needed to stop commercial haulers from taking local trash to the Fraser Valley or the U.S. in a bid to skirt high tipping fees — estimated at $70 per tonne in Abbotsford compared with $108 per tonne in Metro — as well as local surcharge fines designed to encourage recycling.

The environment ministry has refused to say when a decision is expected, and on Tuesday reiterated its standard response in an email to The Vancouver Sun: “The proposed bylaw approved by Metro Vancouver will be reviewed and a decision made in due course.”

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