Can somebody tell me who's in charge at muni hall? Is it our elected municipal council or is it Ana Santos, the co-ordinator of the Squamish Climate Action Network (CAN) and her self-appointed activist task force?
Santos recently sent out a proclamation stating that "Free Dump Days as we know them are history in Squamish," and then she reached the unconfirmed conclusion that "council has taken the bold step to move away from the unchecked disposal of 'waste.'"
How the folks at CAN determined that a majority of local residents want free dumping cancelled is anybody's guess.
According to Mayor Gardner, no sudden change of direction regarding the free dump days is planned at the moment, although that decision may be revised in the future, after some deliberation.
Just to add to the uncertainty, our environmental watchdog on council, Patricia Heintzman, feels left out of the loop.
She thought the district was becoming "a little more cognizant of what we're sending into the landfill."
Now she says she is "confused," given that the Climate Action Network model has not been implemented this year and "the landfill is costing us a lot of tax dollars."
That being said, the Climate Action Network is on the right track by forcing us to rethink our wasteful ways. They have had some real success reducing our carbon footprint and there has to be a better option than the present landfill format.
According to CAN sources, their plan will provide a "responsible, educational and fun" alternative to simply dumping unwanted materials. Councillor Corinne Lonsdale has proposed "a recycle fair," or a year-round recycling centre at the landfill site.
But this community is tossing out a lot of stuff that can't be recycled, so other options need to be pursued.
Last fall council decided the landfill should grow vertically, however councillors could not agree on the logistics and the $3 million price tag for the project is likely too hefty.
Maybe we should be looking to Whistler for answers. Since 2005 the 18,000 metric tons of trash the resort municipality produces annually have been packed into sealed containers at the new transfer station in the Callaghan Valley.
From there, a fleet of trucks hauls the containers to Surrey where they are stacked on train cars and dispatched to the massive Rabanco landfill site in Washington State.
Rabanco's Roosevelt facility can swallow up to five million tons of trash a year. The state-of-the-art operation converts methane gas from rotting garbage into electricity and the company is bidding on garbage contracts up and down the West Coast.
Of course this alternative is all about transferring refuse, not necessarily reducing it. Simply shipping out more garbage is not a complete or satisfactory solution to the global warming juggernaut.
In the meantime all of this may just be idle chatter.
Brian Barnett, who was recently hired as acting engineering manager, is in the process of developing a strategic waste management plan for the district.
It will be interesting to see what brave new world of trash disposal that initiative produces.
