To the Editor:
Many of us in the Creston Valley, especially rural residents, burn our yard waste that cannot be easily composted (such as branches and limbs). As an alternative to burning this material, including compostable yard waste such as grass clippings and leaves, it can be taken to the landfill for a tipping fee where it is chipped, mulched and reused.
Creston Climate Action has made a proposal to the Regional District of Central Kootenay’s resource recovery committee to waive these fees all year to discourage burning. Burning produces smoke and adds to the risk of wildfires, as these fires can be “burns that go wrong”. Currently, dropping off of these materials is free of tipping fees in April and October to provide incentives for residents not to burn.
In spite of the pressing need to remove materials from our yards that could ignite in a time of increasing wildfires, our proposal for waiving of fees for the full year was declined by the resource recovery committee. The RDCK is preparing an update to our resource recovery plan.
Hopefully, residents will take advantage of April and October’s no-tipping-fee options and pay heed to the new burning rules from the Open Burn Smoke Control Regulation, which are available at the B.C. Ministry of Environment website under “smoke and burning”. These regulations require “good” venting for a burn to occur. Daily venting information is available at www.env.gov.bc.ca/epd/epdpa/venting. Enforcement of these regulations is the responsibility of our busy conservation officers, so let’s do our part by avoiding burning until a day of good venting or alternatively, drop off our yard debris for reuse at our Lister landfill.
Pat Martin
Creston Climate Action