Give ‘n’ take
A year ago, a pilot project for recycling renovation waste was launched at a two-bedroom home in East Vancouver, where reVision Custom Home Renovations Inc. planned to undertake $250,000 in renovations.
The final numbers are now in, and the project diverted 85% of project waste from the landfill – well above its target of 60%. Construction waste typically accounts for 27% of all trash entering local landfills.
“It’s a lot easier than a lot of people think,” said Todd Senft, principal of reVision.
Modelled on Toronto’s landmark House Strip program, the pilot project was funded by Metro Vancouver and overseen by Vancouver’s Light House Sustainable Building Centre.
The pilot project affirmed many of the steps reVision and its haulers – including Benefits Waste Management – already take to limit construction waste, such as sorting waste into trash and recyclables. While labour costs are higher, the practice also reduces tipping fees.
The costs will vary by residence, because not all homes have the same mix of materials. Wood, concrete and masonry totalled 56% of the pilot project’s waste, much of which was sent to facilities in Coquitlam and Maple Ridge for recycling or repurposing for landscaping. New West Gypsum Recycling Inc. received drywall while Gemaco Sales Ltd. in Delta used asphalt shingles as a paving additive or kiln fuel.
Diverting waste could get a lot harder in the future, however.
Senft said resellers such as Jack’s New and Used in Burnaby and the Bent Nail in Abbotsford are becoming more discriminating in the kind of materials they take as people become keener to recycle.
“They’re getting a lot of inventory, and so they’re starting to be a little more selective about the material,” Senft said. “The facilities that are out there are getting maxed out.”
While glass doors, kitchen cabinets and leaded glass windows have good resale potential, a standard flat panel door might be better ground down for a new product rather than recycled. Senft also believes there’s potential in developing a regional recycling database that would allow builders across B.C. or in Alberta and Washington state to source used building products.
Rental vacancies drop
Christmas is just a few days away, and the traditional tale of a family who lacks lodging seems to have more than seasonal resonance in Vancouver. The city recently announced a task force to tackle housing affordability, while last week Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. researchers released the fall rental market survey indicating that vacancies in purpose-built rental units had slumped.
Vacancies in Vancouver now average 1.4% in purpose-built rental units, down from 1.9% a year ago. Vacancies in secondary units such as investor-owned condos posted an even greater drop, to 0.9% from 2.2% over the past year.
Robyn Adamache, senior market analyst with CMHC in Vancouver, attributed the strength of the local market – for landlords – to population growth, a stable employment market and the lack of affordable housing.
Yet affordability also dropped, according to CMHC, from an indexed value of 86 to 83. The figure refers to the relationship between median household income and the median monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment; a lower figure indicates that rent is consuming a greater percentage of monthly income.
Overall, rents increased 2.3% in the past year.
The average monthly rent for an apartment in Vancouver’s metropolitan area is $1,027, ranging from $839 for a bachelor apartment to $1,463 for a three-bedroom unit. Downtown Vancouver leads the way in expense, with average rents ranging from $964 for a bachelor suite to $2,678 for three bedrooms and more.
Adamache doesn’t expect significant upward pressure on prices or major shifts in affordability in 2012.
Condos mean apartments
Whatever your feelings for them, condo owners really are the new suppliers of Metro Vancouver apartment housing.
CMHC stats indicate that the past year’s dramatic decline in vacancies in rented condos occurred even though the number of condos offered for rent rose to 44,804 from 41,744 in 2010. This compares with anemic growth of just 224 units in purpose-built rentals, which now total 104,681.
The shift becomes even more dramatic when you look at stats from five years ago.
The purpose-built rental stock in Vancouver totalled 104,952 units in 2006, according to CMHC – 271 units more than exist today. Meanwhile, the number of condos offered for rent stood at just 28,567 – well below today’s tally and just 21.9% of all condos. Today, condos for rent represent 25.7% of all condos in the Vancouver metropolitan area. •
