LOCAL NEWS: NEW TO REGATTA - SOAPBOX RACES W A12 Monday, August 13, 2012 W Volume 47 No. 33 W www.clearwatertimes.com W $1.40 HST Included at Newsstands
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Youngsters learn how to ride. See page A10 inside.
Opening the Children’s Art Festival Lisalee Campbell sings O’ Canada at the start of the first ever Clearwater Children’s Art Festival on Tuesday, Aug. 7. The event was held in Weyerhaeuser Park. For more about the festival, see page A11 inside. Photo by Keith McNeill
TNRD finds big savings in garbage operations Keith McNeill A slow economy and an improved method of asking for tenders are saving the Thompson-Nicola Regional District millions of dollars on solid waste disposal. That’s the word from Tim Pennell, TNRD director for Wells Gray Country (Area A). “When you’re chairing the committee and you see those kind of savings, you say, ‘Wow!,” he said. Pennell is the chair of the regional district’s solid waste management committee. The most striking example of the savings was seen in the recent awarding of the operations and maintenance contract for the Heffley Creek and Lower Nicola landfill operations. The projected budget to operate the two landfills had been $7.9 million.
Otway Contracting Ltd., which has been operating the landfills within the TNRD for several years, put in a bid of $7.6 million. However, during their July 19 meeting, the regional district board members voted to give the contract to South Cariboo Ventures Ltd., which had put in a bid of $4.2 million - about $3.7 million less than projected. Other solid waste contracts awarded during the meeting also came in well under projections, Pennell said. “Basically, we got some competition this time,” he commented. “The end result will be significant savings to the taxpayers of the regional district, including those in municipalities. The entire regional district is involved in the solid waste program, except for the City of Kamloops.” Pennell added that another factor might have been the decision by the TNRD to break the contract up into smaller
units. Bidders were given the option of quoting for all or part of the package. “Everything just lined up,” he said. Construction of an eco-depot continues and apparently is on schedule to open next fall, said Pennell. The regional district director said he hopes the transfer station at Vavenby will remain open even after the Clearwater eco-depot opens. According to the TNRD website, overall waste disposal in the regional district has declined by 55 per cent since the regional solid waste management plan (RSWMP) was implemented in 2008. The number of bins being hauled out of transfer stations went from 2,549 in 2008 to 1,120 in 2011. The RSWMP included pay-as-you-throw garbage collection across the TNRD as well as unlimited blue bag recycling.
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