CJ Rhodes

Following is a “cleaned-up” version of my speech given at the CSAT sustainability workshop in the Sonora Centre on January 14, 2011… 

Sustainability is a wonderful and complex subject. The many aspects of sustainability can and will be the very essence of the way we do and think about all things in a municipality in the coming years. 

Sustainability is a valuable tool that will provide guidance to administrators of all levels as we move toward dealing with our many environmental issues in Osoyoos. The Town of Osoyoos has been honing its sustainability skills in an attempt to improve environmental matters in our community.

 With this in mind, I would like to offer a few words on how Osoyoos applied sustainability techniques to address a huge environment matter in our community.

 The Osoyoos landfill historically was a hole in the ground that allowed almost without restriction the indiscriminate dumping of all materials. There was an abrupt wakeup call when statistics revealed that we, in fact, were filling that hole at an alarming rate and harming our environment almost to the point of embarrassment. Osoyoos residents were adding over 749 kilograms per person per year. This statistic placed Osoyoos residents in the top one percentile in the world. A statistic that, by anyone’s standards is not acceptable. By comparison the US average is 700 kgs, Spain 400 kgs and Mexico 310 kgs. It was estimated that our landfill would close in less than 5 years. The cost of purchasing landfill land is so out there that it is never going to happen in our community. At that point the harsh reality was “5 years of life left in the landfill” and that was not an option. Immediate steps were necessary to lengthen the life of our land fill and to vastly improve our negative impact to our environment. It was also necessary to have a vision of where we wanted to be years into the future.

 Sustainability techniques were introduced. Some were intentional and some not but sustainable none the less. Following is a synopsis of what we did as a community:

 1.      An RFP was offered in an attempt to secure a qualified, experienced and, cost effective landfill operator.

2.      Changes were made to existing by-laws reducing curbside bag pick from two to one.

3.      Changes were made to existing by-laws allowing unlimited curbside pickup of recyclable materials.

4.      Tipping fees were leveled with surrounding landfills to discourage using our landfill because it was cheaper.

5.      Recycling areas at the landfill were made more user friendly and efficient.

6.      Residents and retailers were encouraged to discontinue the use of one time use plastic bags.

 At this time, because of these changes we now have a first class landfill contractor in place who has turned our hole in the ground into a well-run, efficient, organized and profit generating facility. The curbside volume reductions have encouraged residents to recycle, reuse and compost. Increased tipping fees have discouraged using the Osoyoos landfill because of reduced costs. The improved recycling area is an efficient method of landfill diversion. Resident engagement has vastly improved the overall health of our landfill and has helped reduce negative impacts to our environment.

 Admittedly, we did not set out with sustainability in mind. But by introducing the three key components of sustainability: those being the SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND, ECONOMIC and a realization that the project must be bearable, equitable and viable we have achieved a measure of sustainability with our landfill.

 So… the good news is a recent reevaluation in September 2010 by the RDOS has indicated that our landfill now has a predicted lifespan of 20 to 25 years.

 So…sustainability can and does work.