By Two & Out

PETERS: Our biosolids, our business

Apr 5, 2019 | 10:42 AM

HUMANS HAVE NEVER BEEN especially good at dealing with our waste.

We like to do silly things with our garbage like toss it out the window of our cars for someone else to handle.

Just slightly better is our brilliant plan to collect our garbage in big mountains before burying it under a thin layer of topsoil, the perfect embodiment of “out of sight, out of mind”.

When it comes to the waste that human bodies more literally produce, we’re doing better.

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After all, we are one of the only species of animals that doesn’t just drop it wherever and whenever nature calls.

But the consequence of laying a network of pipes to take our solid waste away from our sight is that it collects in one place.

We can’t simply ignore it like a goose in Riverside Park.

So here we are in 2019, and our best solution is to, after the material has gone through a series of processes to neutralize and remove its nastiest ingredients, call it ‘biosolids’ and compost it.

But where?

Like the people of the Turtle Valley this week, many object to biosolids being brought to their neighbourhoods.

In this case, it’s the biosolids being produced and stockpiled by the City of Kamloops.

They’re concerned about the smell, they’re concerned about the runoff and leeching, and they’re concerned about their property values.

For us Kamloops residents, we seem to be just happy that it’s heading out of town.

It has become the ultimate NIMBY issue: no one is particularly bothered by it until it comes within proximity.

We should all be concerned about biosolids, though.

The City has signed a contract with Arrow Transportation to handle our biosolids, but that shouldn’t mean we wash our hands of it.

Kamloops residents should take an active interest in ensuring our waste is being dealt with in a responsible and sustainable fashion.

Here in B.C., we have put the onus on producers of packaging material to come up with a way to recycle it.

It’s an ethical obligation.

Well, we’re all producers of the material that turns into biosolids, and we have an obligation to figure out what to do with it in a responsible way.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.