The future of Nova Scotia’s 7 solid waste authorities could be in peril.
The authorities are funded through Divert NS, which administers the province’s deposit refund system.
It used to be called the Resource Recovery Fund Board.
Divert NS is struggling with budgetary issues.
When a can of pop is purchased a 10 cent deposit is paid.
When the empty cans are returned to the enviro-depot the consumer gets a nickel back.
When the program was rolled out in 1996, 2-and-a-half cents of the other nickel went to the enviro depot and
the other half to the RRFB to fund municipal programs.
Gus Green, general manager of Wastecheck, the solid waste authority in Western Nova Scotia says 20 years later the deposit
hasn’t changed.
“Wastecheck is just a very small portion of the total cost of waste management. We focus mainly on education and enforcement.
The municipal units have to pay for collection, processing and disposal.”
“For the first number of years the funding to municipalities from the Resource Recovery Fund Board has been around 8 million dollars a year.
To put that in perspective, in 2015, the total cost to provide waste management services across the province was 91 million dollars.” So as you
can see, the vast burden falls to municipalities. What’s happens this year, as you know, municipalities have to approve their budgets
well in advance, so, our budgets were approved assuming there would be approximately eight million dollars in funding available . We’ve since
been informed the funding will only be around 6 million dollars.”
Green says the situation is creating a perfect storm for the ultimate collapse of the system.
“It really is and I hate to say it but this could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Since we found this out we’ve been meeting with the
Minister of Environment, Minister Miller {Margaret}. The RRFB–Divert NS–has exactly one shareholder-the Minister of Environment. “
“We’ve been very clear about the crisis we’re in and we’ve asked them to make up that shortfall. We’re optimistic they will but we don’t
know for sure at this point. It’s important to remember that’s a band-aid for this fiscal year. It’s not a solution. If we want to keep these programs going, then the government has to stand up right now and do something to save them.”
