Tri-City's enthusiastic approach to plastic > City cracks down on green waste laws Aaron Guillen Staff Reporter Bo green isn’t anew concept. The process of separating garbage, from compost to paper, has been around for a while. While Metro Vancouver is working hard to become a greener city, some residents are still not getting the message—ironically, those that jumped on board in the first place. Back in 2004, Port Coquitlam began neighbourhood yard trimming collections, the first program of its kind in BC. Then in 2008, PoCo was the first to separate green food scraps into a Green Cart, rather than joining the garbage—they also added food-soiled papers to the list the following year. Finally, in 2011, PoCo expanded their accessibility by reaching out to multi-family complexes. Today, many would think that these residents are at the forefront of change, but it looks like some values have gone rotten. Recently, high volumes of plastic bags have been contaminating the Green Cart BC government investigates a possible Program. Now, city officials across the Tri-Cities are done taking out the trash for residents. With green cart programs rolled out around all surrounding cities and a six-month adjustment period complete from last summer, most would argue that there’s no longer any room for excuses. Notably, the City of Coquitlam has sent out over 1,000 letters to homes that haven't complied with the plastic bag violations. Future violators should be warned that a $500 fine is now in place. Coquitlam Environmental Services manager Steffanie Warriner told the Tri-City News highway to the Sunshine Coast > USome say the study is detracting from current transportation problem Rebecca Peterson Staff Writer A study funded by the BC overnment is now underway to decide whether or not it’s feasible to build a highway connecting the Lower Mainland to the Sunshine Coast. Though the Sunshine Coast is a popular tourist destination for BC, it is currently difficult to access. Despite being part of the mainland proper, the Sunshine Coast is divided from the Lower Mainland by several deep and wide inlets. As it stands now, the only access to the area, which has a population of 30,000 people, is by BC Ferry, with multiple transfers between Vancouver and a Sunshine Coast destination. In light of this, the government has awarded a $250,000 contract to engineering firm R.F. Binnie. The firm’s study will investigate whether or not it is cost-effective to connect Highway 99 to the Sunshine Coast by spanning the inlets with multiple bridges, using the islands in the wider inlets as touch-points. “There’s always been talk of [a fixed link], but I’ve never heard as much talk as I have in the past four or five years,” said the NDP MLA for Powell River, Nicholas Simons, to Business Vancouver. “Some people would suggest the government has made the ferry service so bad that it’s created a demand for alternatives.” Despite the region being popular with tourists, the government has cut ferry service to the Sunshine Coast by a wide margin, resulting in longer wait times during ideal tourist periods such as long weekends. As much of the economy of the Sunshine Coast is reliant on tourist money, many citizens in the region consider themselves to be greatly Image via thinkstock that plastic bags, including ones labeled compostable or biodegradable, cannot be put into green cans. The city will be upping its education to help residents better understand this. Coquitlam hopes to change the regular habits of residents who haven't been abiding to Image via coraclecove.com affected by these changes. An overland access route might not come quickly enough to make any real impact on the current situation. “It’s difficult for our businesses to be competitive given the cost and reliability,” said Gibsons Mayor Wayne Rowe to Business guidelines through a modern day approach. The city has created the ReCollect App, which reminds residents every collection day. Additionally, it provides helpful information, such as where and how to recycle specific household waste simply by typing in the name of any waste item. According to Port Coquitlam’s Green Cart handbook, 47 per cent of residential garbage that ends up in landfills are food scraps. The green bin initiative has been trying to change that. Food scraps in green bins will be brought to a composing facility and will be turned into a useful composted soil project for local gardens and farms. It is easy to wrap food scraps in newspapers or paper bags, but plastic bags of any kind, even biodegradable or compostable, will hurt the final product of the compost. All foods scraps can go in your green bin. Not only fruits and vegetables, but fish, bones, plate scraps, and even pizza boxes. The result is significantly less garbage in the landfills, and significantly more composted soil. Vancouver. Simons agreed with this sentiment, telling the Powell River Peak: “The fact a study is being undertaken does not absolve the government of their responsibilities to our communities in the meantime.” The hope in the long-term would be for tourism and commerce to pick up along the Sunshine Coast, given easier and faster access to the Lower Mainland. However, the infrastructure necessary for this endeavour would take a great many years to complete. R.F. Binnie’s final report on the study is not expected back until the end of fall, long past the conclusion of the summer tourist season. The concern as well is that the government might compare the cost of this proposed land route to the cost of the current, ineffective ferry systems, rather than the ferry systems that were in place prior to the cuts. “I'm hoping the study answers all our questions and gives us an idea of what could happen in the future,” Simons said, “but in the meantime, the residents of the Sunshine Coast has transportation issues that need to be dealt with ” now.