94 replies to this topic

[Rob Randall]

I have modified a sentence in order to make clear that the trucks are related to the construction of the facility, not the hauling of compost or its components.

[my2cents]

I've been following this story since November, and have found this discussion thread to be both informative and entertaining. (Smart people with opinions!)

Today was my first time to see the composting location for myself. I walked along Lochside trail, and viewed it from the bottom of the hill. I have to say that this is an ideal location for a composting facility.

Trucks: I can understand why the neighbors don't like dump trucks using the roads, but once it's built, that should resolve itself. As for the increased traffic and type of trucks that will access the facility when it is operational, only time will tell.

Future Sales: In the future, I think the farmer should be able to sell (or transport off his property) any extra compost that he does not need for his own use. An ideal way to do that, would be to load it into the trucks that delivered raw compost, so that they don't drive away empty. It's a round trip for them after all.

Love it or hate it, a facility like this serves the greater good.

[SamCB]

Any followup on this? I haven't seen anything in the TC for a while now.
Logic, are the residents there satisfied by the truck route changes?

[Logic]

I can not talk for all the neighbours on this road, but traffic is back to where people feel safe. It has been great. I have received feedback from other neighbours who feel the same way. Most (if not all) which the farmer the best of luck from here on-wards.
Logic

[Bob Fugger]

The initial phase of this project is complete and Foundation Organics (the tradename that part of the operation is working under) has received authorization to begin receiving organic materials. It took its first load last week. On a related note, one of the principals of Foundation Organics is also the principal of OrganiCo Waste Recovery Systems Ltd., a newly-incorporated local business whose primary service is collecting and hauling organic waste, with a focus on the ICI (industrial, commercial and institutional) sector and multi-family residential...with capacity to do single family residential, as well.

[Sparky]

Hey Bob.....nice to hear from you.....am I one of the qualifiers?

FYI.... your math is inaccurate.

Math is my biitch this week. (two i's to trick the spell bot)

[VicHockeyFan]

So Stanhope has had its kitchen-scrap license pulled now.

Any idea where our CoV compost goes to?

[Mike K.]

Any more info on why it was pulled?

[VicHockeyFan]

Any more info on why it was pulled?

Too stinky. I've emailed CoV and CRD to ask where our banana peels are going currently. Anyone wanna bet that they are temporarily going to Hartland with the other garbage? I think Fugger said there was no other compost facility south of the Malahat.

[Mike K.]

What about the garbage facility in Langford? Most CRD'ers don't know there are two dumps on the south Island.

[VicHockeyFan]

What about the garbage facility in Langford? Most CRD'ers don't know there are two dumps on the south Island.

That's only a transfer and/or processing station, not a landfill. I think Saanich Peninsula's de-watered sludge blocks go there.

[weisguy86]

So Stanhope has had its kitchen-scrap license pulled now.

Any idea where our CoV compost goes to?

They are currently being trucked up to Duncan, but that may not last long as they are complaining about the smell at their compost yard as well.

[VicHockeyFan]

Ah, here we go... from CoV:

Thank you for contacting the City of Victoria Public Works.



The Kitchen Scraps are being taken to Fisher Road Organics in Mill Bay.



We appreciate your email.

[VicHockeyFan]

Looks like the CRD is going to spend $200,000 for a temporary facility at Hartland, to deal with all the composting they are currently trucking over the Malahat.

[Sparky]

Looks like the CRD is going to spend $200,000 for a temporary facility at Hartland, to deal with all the composting they are currently trucking over the Malahat.

This is getting out of hand. It wasn't that long ago that they spent a ton of money building a garden waste facility off of Willis Point road. Then they closed it.

[Bob Fugger]

This is getting out of hand. It wasn't that long ago that they spent a ton of money building a garden waste facility off of Willis Point road. Then they closed it.

Notwithstanding the current facility suspension, taxpayers need to be aware that Foundation Organics has a legally enforceable contract with the CRD to accept kitchen waste. If the CRD refuses to work in good faith with the facility to bring it into compliance (assuming it is not in compliance and the CRD isn't completely overshooting their authority), they will potentially be on the hook for a hell of a lawsuit.

[VicHockeyFan]

Collecting it has not been a problem. Municipalities have jumped on board — investing heavily in special trucks and special totes for homeowners so they can separate waste food scraps from other garbage.

Finding companies willing and able to process it into compost, however, has not been so easy.

CRD staff anticipate, however, that of the 30,000 tonnes of food scraps expected to be collected annually by 2015, there will be nowhere to process almost half of it.

To buy time to develop options, CRD staff recommend a “temporary” solution of spending $200,000 to build a separate storage pit at Hartland complete with “geotextile liner, leachate collection, clay capping and odour management.”

They estimate it will cost $600,000 a year to operate the “temporary food-waste diversion site.” That doesn’t include the cost of excavating the material for processing at a later date.

http://www.timescolo...ctoria-1.635847

So was this well-thought out?

[VicHockeyFan]

So now Central Saanich is suing the operation.

[Bob Fugger]

So now Central Saanich is suing the operation.

This is getting more ludicrous by the day. From my understanding of the situation, the compost odours are the result of the (finished) compost and not the composting process itself. Big difference: any farm putting down that amount of compost on their land will create odours.

Having listened to their attorney on CFAX yesterday, it sounds like part of the problem - echoed by OB Mayor Nils Jensen in the previous interview - is that uptake has been too good, and so too much organic waste is making it to the facility. The CRD issued an RFP last year and the numbers are exceeding that. Any private sector entity would be hard pressed to say no to more product. Any good private sector entity would raise the issue of oversupply with their customer which they did. Such concerns were apparently poo-poo'd by CRD management as housekeeping, when requests were made to update their operating plan to accomodate the excess organic waste.

As for the lawsuit, well, good luck, Central Saanich. Part of making a tort case is to show that you've taken steps to mitigate any damages. For example, if a Hydro truck hits a fire hydrant and it floods your home, you just can't stand there and let it ruin the house to the point that it has to be razed: you need to at least have taken reasonable steps to mitigate damages. So how does that relate to Central Saanich? In their infinite wisdom, they have a bylaw regulating sales of compost at the farm gate - i.e., the bylaw stipulates that all compost produced on agricultural land must be used on said property. So in essence, Central Saanich are suing Stanhope Farms because the compost they produce and spread on their land is causing odours. And the compost that is produced - recognized as an acceptable farming practice under the Right to Farm Act, cannot be legally removed. If anything, Tanner Ridge homeowners should be more livid with Central Saanich than with the Foundation Organics.

[VicHockeyFan]

Well, at least they have not gone ahead with their $200k plan (that also was to cost $600k a year to operate) at Hartland.