Churchgoers try hand as dumpster divers

By Roszan Holmen - Saanich News - June 24, 2008

Trevor Smith, Councillor Vicki Sanders, Reverend Karen Dickey
and Glenys Verhulst pick the garbage at St. Aidan's United Church.

Parishioners of St. Aidan's United Church slipped on rubber gloves, boots and old clothes to dive into the dumpster last weekend.

"It's a horrible thing to think about doing but it's the only way to find out what's going wrong," said parishioner and Saanich councillor Vicki Sanders.

The church's green committee set out to conduct an audit on the waste generated from church events, rental groups and thrift shop.

"We just had to bring attitudes of curiosity to the garbage," said Glenys Verhulst, who organized the dive behind the church at 3703 St. Aidan's St.

The goal is to reduce waste and save money on the garbage collection fee, currently at $108 per month.

After sorting through all the bags on large plastic tarps on Saturday, the team found that only one small bag's worth of trash belonged in the dumpster.

"We discovered that 97 per cent of the kitchen waste could have been diverted from the landfill," said Sanders. "It was unbelievable the amount of paper towels and coffee grinds."

Already a group of volunteers take some plastics and styrofoam home to recycle or to the mobile recycling depots. To catch more waste, the church is considering hiring its garbage collector to take away recyclables.

The church is seeking volunteers to compost kitchen waste for its garden. It's also looking into energy-efficient light bulbs and installing another bike rack.

"We do pretty well ... but we have a lot of space to grow," said Verhulst.

Saanich Carbon Neutral Donations Tax Deductible -- A First For Local Government

Can’t decide where to spend your Carbon Action Dividend? The District of Saanich just made it easier for its residents to make that call.

The new Saanich web-based Carbon Calculator allows residents to estimate their household carbon footprint, donate to a Saanich Carbon Neutral Fund and immediately receive a tax-deductible receipt for income tax purposes.

The first contributors to the Carbon Neutral fund were Municipal Councillors Vicki Sanders and Leif Wergeland, co-chairs of Saanich’s Joint Advisory Committee on Climate Change. Councillors Sanders and Wergeland displayed their Carbon Neutral Tax-Deductible receipts, June 26th, 2008 at the launch of the Carbon Calculator.

“Climate Change is happening and we need to reduce our carbon footprint, but in the meantime, it is important to offset our CO2 emissions.” Says Vicki Sanders, Chair of Saanich’s Environmental Advisory Committee.

The funds raised will be specifically dedicated to carbon-reducing projects within the District of Saanich.

“As far as we know, Saanich is the first municipality in Canada to create such a tax-deductible Carbon Neutral programme. We hope it will help us all to become much more aware of our carbon footprint.” says Saanich Councillor, Leif Wergeland, Chair of Saanich’s Planning, Transportation and Economic Development Committee.

The new calculator and receipt system will generate funds to supplement Saanich’s new Carbon Neutral Reserve Fund. $90,100 was placed in this fund in the 2008 Budget to offset the estimated 6,000 Tonnes of Co2 emitted annually by Saanich Municipal operations.

“There are so many carbon offset programmes out there, it’s easy to become confused. Many of them take your money and spend it to remote projects without clear financial accountability.

Saanich’s reserve fund will only support carbon-reducing projects within the District and all spending is subject to legislated audits and public disclosure. “That accountability and localized spending will be appreciated by our residents.” says Vicki Sanders.

Saanich Doles Out Enviro Awards

June 04, 2008 Erin Cardone

Solar power, engineered by a local company, is making the municipality’s infrastructure a whole lot greener. Carmanah Technologies will receive a Saanich Environmental Award Monday for its solar technology. Carmanah’s solar panels are installed on some crosswalk beacons in Saanich.
The technology allows the devices to operate independent from the power grid, using clean, renewable energy, says Coun. Vicki Sanders, chair of the Environmental Advisory Committee.
Three other businesses or organizations and three individuals will receive awards before next Monday’s council meeting.

Guy Dauncey will receive the Sustainability Award for his written and spoken works that “develop a positive vision of a sustainable future,” Sanders said. Dauncey is president of the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association, executive director of the Solutions Project, publisher of the EcoNews and author of 11 books.

This is the ninth year that the Environmental Awards have been doled out. People can nominate someone for an award every year. The Environmental Advisory Committee hopes to see more nominations for the next batch of awards. “We often get the same people year after year because they do such wonderful work,” Sanders said.

The award winners this year are:
Individual Citizen: Ms. Judy Spearing
Volunteer Organization: Mt. Tolmie Conservancy Association
Business/Commercial: Carmanah Technologies
Youth Group: Reynolds Green Group
Biodiversity: Garry Oak Meadow Preservation Society
Sustainability: Mr. Guy Dauncey
Long-term Environmental Achievement: Ms. Pam Sinclair