The Capital Regional District (CRD) delivers regional, sub regional and local services to 13 municipalities and 3 electoral areas located on southern Vancouver Island and the Southern Gulf Islands. The CRD’s Environmental Resource Management (ERM) division is responsible for municipal solid waste (MSW) management, including the operation of Hartland Landfill, curbside blue box collection, depot recycling programs and waste reduction initiatives.
Environmental Resource Management operates based on the 5R hierarchy of Reduce, Reuse, Recycling, Resource Recovery and Residuals Management, and has a goal of extending the life of Hartland Landfill by minimizing waste disposal and maximizing diversion opportunities.
Since 1990, the CRD has commissioned seven studies to assess the composition of MSW being disposed of at Hartland Landfill, the last one was the 2022 Solid Waste Stream Composition Study. Since the last waste composition study, the CRD has introduced new bans on the disposal of clean and treated wood and asphalt shingles, as well as adjusted tipping fees to incentivize source separation of these materials.
The objectives of the 2026 waste composition study are to:
- Determine the composition of MSW disposed of at Hartland Landfill.
- Identify sector specific data for waste generated from:
- Single family dwellings.
- Multi-family dwellings.
- Industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI).
- Construction, renovation and demolition.
- Hartland public drop-off bins.
- Compare new 2026 results to results from previous waste composition studies and consider impacts from 2024 material bans and tipping fee adjustments.
- Establish a baseline for new programs or initiatives.
- Identify materials that may be targeted for new policies or programs.
- Provide data to inform future strategies or initiatives.