Too many people are still trying to throw their old TVs and electronics in the trash.
A regional district staff report to the Zero Waste Committee on the 2018 results of the Metro Vancouver Disposal Ban Program noted that over the last three years, electronic waste, including household electronic goods such as vacuums, microwaves, audio systems, televisions, computers and printers, has consistently had the highest number of surcharge notices.
However, the trend in surcharge notices issued for electrical waste has decreased from 35 per cent in 2016 to 25 per cent in 2018.
All electronic devices should go to a depot for recycling or safe disposal, rather than the garbage stream.
Corrugated cardboard made up 19 per cent of the surcharge notices in 2018, up from 10 per cent from 2016. Mattresses, gypsum and clean wood accounted for 16 per cent, 10 per cent and six per cent of surcharge notices, respectively.
The report also notes improper gypsum disposal continues to be a challenge in the region due to more stringent recycling requirements and associated costs, especially for used gypsum.
Due to limited capacity at composting facilities within the region, the clean wood and food waste disposal ban surcharges were relaxed at the Burnaby waste-to-energy facility for three months in early 2018.
The report also notes that, overall, inspectors looked at 188,135 loads of garbage, which worked out to about 25 per cent of the total number of loads. Nine per cent, or 16,707 loads, contained banned materials, with surcharge notices being issued to 3,554 loads, representing a surcharge rate of 1.9 per cent.
The report also notes that in the remaining 13,153 loads, banned materials were observed, but not disposed.
“These materials are typically dropped off for recycling at the transfer station rather than disposed. The inspectors’ interactions with customers help prevent banned materials from being disposed and inspectors provide alternative recycling options to customers,” the report explains.
A Disposal Ban Program update from the previous year noted that in 2017, 220,624, or 29 per cent of garbage loads, were inspected. There were 4,138 surcharge notices issued and about one out of every 10 inspected loads contained banned materials.
In July 2017, a closed circuit camera system was installed at the waste-to-energy facility to help inspectors identify banned materials as customers unload waste into the bunker.
