There will be no industrial compost plant on the edge of Mount Seymour. The ironically-named Anaconda Systems seemed intent on squeezing the life out of 2.6 hectares off Mount Seymour Road with an enclosed compost system.
Neighbours were horrified until District of North Vancouver council categorically stated they would not rezone the land.
Most everyone seemed to put their nose back in joint after the decision, but we’re concerned this is an instance where logic and illogic converged.
A picturesque mountainside adjacent to a provincial park is a preposterous place for a compost facility. The terrain is too steep, the road too-often gridlocked (especially in winter).
There are also bears and cougars equipped with olfactory senses unlikely to be deceived by even the finest odour-containment technology.
However, we fear a portion of the outcry was based simply on not wanting a revolting-sounding facility so close to our own backyards.
But if we’re going to encourage eating, shopping and working locally, we can’t turn a blind eye to the practice of trucking our lawn clipping and plate scrapings to the Squamish Valley, a lengthy trip that hurts the environment even as it helps it.
We empathize with just about every concern a person could have about industrial compost facilities. They can be ugly and cumbersome and at least one facility failed to control its stench.
But the farther afield we send our garbage the more we fool ourselves into thinking our waste is someone else’s problem.
We own it. We should deal with it here.
Now that would smell like success.
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