Category Archives: Waste

New waste management centre boss eyes busy summer season with concern

By Greg Osoba, CKTZ News, through an LJI grant from Canada-info.ca

The Cortes Island Waste Management Centre is preparing for a busy summer and the organization’s new manager is worried about capacity.

Waste Management Centre manager Aaron McCulloch-Gary—who has been at the helm since the start of 2023 after taking over from long serving manager Brian Pfeifle—says everything is running smoothly at the moment, but he has serious concerns about the upcoming summer season, when the Cortes Island population triples beyond its 1,000 year-round residents.

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What Quadra ICAN accomplished in 2022

According to the 2021 census, 36% of Quadra Island’s population is 65 years old or older. That’s 10% higher than throughout the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) as a whole, which has a considerably higher proportion of seniors than most of the province. The only Area in the SRD with a larger percentage of seniors is Cortes Island, where that number is 38%. Some might regard that large number of retirees as a problem, Quadra ICAN’s new Coordinator, Ramona Boyle,’ describes them as an asset that was responsible for much of her organization’s accomplishments during 2022.

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The story behind the Tire Islet clean-up

A waste education program from Powell River recently cleaned up an islet that was partially buried under tires. Cortes Currents re-published the story from qathet Living and that probably would have ended the matter, except some of you had questions. The biggest one was something between shock and disbelief that such a beautiful Islet had actually been turned into a tire dump. So Cortes Currents asked Abby McLennan of Let’s Talk Trash for an interview. 

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Tire Island:Tired to Tireless

Originally published on qathet Living

By Abby McLennan

We found the infamous ‘Tire Island’ in early June while out scouting for potential shoreline cleanup projects.

Sailors, boaters and even BC Ferry passengers had gawked at this island for years. In the idyllic waters of the Salish Sea, a small islet off Nelson Island had grown a mountain of off-rim vehicle tires.

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This past year at FOCI, an interview with Helen Hall

Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) recently had its AGM. This is also Helen Hall’s seventh year as Executive Director. So Cortes Currents asked her for an overview of this past year and how the organization has changed during her tenure. 

Helen Hall: “That’s a big question, FOCI has always been doing a lot of different projects. I act as the central point for FOCI, but there’s a lot of work going on with volunteers and our contractors.” 

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