Over 3200 people participated in the RDEK’s recent Solid Waste and Recycling Services Survey, providing valuable information and ideas as the RDEK works to review its Solid Waste Management Plan.

“We are ecstatic with both the participation and the feedback,” says RDEK Environmental Services Supervisor Kevin Paterson. “We were hoping to get a good cross-section of feedback from around the region, and we certainly achieved that goal. We had 54.7% of respondents in municipal areas, 45.3% in rural areas and there were responses from every electoral area and municipality in the RDEK.”

The RDEK has prepared a summary of the survey results, which is available on the Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) Review project page at engage.rdek.bc.ca. Some of the general findings include an overall satisfaction with the current solid waste and recycling systems. There was support for the RDEK to further investigate the costs and implications of expanding reduction, reuse and recycling services; and, options for composting of organics such as food waste.

The survey was one of the first steps in the SWMP Review process as it provides the RDEK and the SWMP Review Advisory Committee with an idea of how people are currently using the system and what ideas they have that could be further investigated moving forward. “We’d like to thank everyone who participated and hope they will continue to be engaged in the process moving,” adds Paterson. “We are currently taking the information collected through the survey, detailed waste audit and from the Advisory Committee to identify a series of possible priorities and the costs / implications of those priorities. We will then be going back out to the public to get their thoughts with those potential costs attached.”

The second survey is expected to be released in the next few weeks.

For more information on the Solid Waste and Recycling Services Survey, a summary of what’s in our waste, and more visit engage.rdek.bc.ca.