Green Building Policy and Demolition Waste Diversion Bylaw

Why is updating the Green Building Policy important?

Since the Green Building Policy was adopted in 2008, green building and sustainable design practices, technologies, and standards have evolved. Whistler has identified updated sustainability and climate action goals and targets, and provincially, British Columbia has adopted a new approach to energy efficiency in new buildings with the introduction of the BC Energy Step Code.

The updated Green Building Policy will advance municipal policy implementation and will align with provincial and municipal guidelines and industry best practices while improving and simplifying the process for applicants.

What is changing?

With Whistler's adoption of the BC Energy Step Code, the building emissions and energy component of the current Green Building Policy will be implemented through the municipality's Building Bylaw. The scope of the Green Building Policy will be revised to reflect this change, and the updated policy will provide a holistic approach to sustainability and green building priorities focusing on water conservation, construction and demolition waste reduction, increasing the use of locally sourced and low-emitting building materials and finishes, and ecosystem/site protection and enhancement.

Scope of Policy

This policy addresses new construction at the scale of individual buildings and sites. It establishes performance targets and guidelines for new construction in buildings under Part 9 (houses and small buildings) and Part 3 (large and complex buildings) of the BC Building Code. The guidelines and requirements are grouped thematically and organized in six sections:

1. Energy and Emissions
2. Building Materials
3. Sustainable Site Design
4. Green Mobility
5. Water Conservation and Rainwater Management
6. Solid Waste

The policy focuses on establishing guidelines and requirements to achieve higher sustainability standards as a condition for rezoning applications, through the RMOW's discretionary authority to enact and amend zoning bylaws.

Renovation and expansions to existing buildings that do not trigger a rezoning are encouraged to implement relevant sections of the policy where possible.

Policy Objectives

Whistler’s Green Building Policy proposes a flexible, performance-based framework for new construction, based on the sustainability and climate action goals established in the Climate Action Big Moves Strategy and the 2018 Official Community Plan (OCP). The policy advances the implementation of Big Moves #1 and #2 by ensuring that new buildings address active transportation facilities and electric vehicle infrastructure. The guidelines also support Big Moves #4 and #6 by aligning with the BC Energy Step Code in order to accelerate the transition toward zero-emission buildings but also by lowering the carbon consumption associated with building construction and operations.

The Green Building Policy advances key sustainability goals from the OCP, specifically reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from buildings and infrastructure, reduction of environmental and energy impacts at a neighborhood level, and promoting land development that minimizes impacts on the natural environment.

Why is developing the Demolition Waste Diversion Bylaw important?

In 2021, Council endorsed the Zero Waste Action Plan with the overall goal of achieving an 80% waste diversion rate in Whistler. The Plan identified eight priority actions, with the seventh and eighth priority actions focused on developing guidelines and recycling requirements for construction and demolition waste.

Proposed Approach

The proposed bylaw is designed to increase the amount of demolition waste diverted away from the landfill and encourage recycling and material salvage (reuse) where possible. This will be accomplished through the inclusion of a refundable deposit and a diversion reporting system added to the demolition permit process.

Recycling means items that can be recovered from the waste stream and turned into new products, for example using recycled drywall to recover the gypsum. Reuse means further and repeated use of building materials as building materials, for example reusing the recovered lumber from a demolished structure.

The demolition permit process will require a Diversion Deposit, refundable when diversion requirements are met, to be paid at the time of the application for a demolition permit.

In alignment with the Zero Waste Action Plan, the diversion requirement is recommended to be set at 80% diversion of waste material by weight. Staff propose this high diversion percentage as many projects will reach a lower diversion rate by only diverting concrete. Most demolition jobs will easily achieve the 80% diversion by weight by diverting concrete, wood, metal and drywall.

To encourage material reuse where appropriate, materials that are effectively separated for reuse, instead of recycled, will be given twice the diversion value. For example, if one tonne of wood is reused instead of recycled, it will be worth two tonnes in the calculations. This is consistent with the Zero Waste hierarchy in the Zero Waste Action Plan, which prioritizes reuse over recycling.

Once the Building Department is satisfied the demolition is complete, contractors will have 90 days to submit their diversion report to the RMOW. If the demolition meets the diversion target of 80%, the contractor will have their entire Diversion Deposit refunded. If they meet a lower diversion rate, their Diversion Deposit will be refunded based on a sliding scale. Projects that divert less than 40% of material will not receive any of their Diversion Deposit back.

Refunds will be calculated as follows:

Refund = ((2.5 x Diversion Percent)-1) x Diversion Deposit

Example: Using a Diversion Deposit of $5,000, if a project has a 70 percent diversion rate, they would have a $3,750 refund as shown by:

3,750 = ((2.5 x 0.7)-1) x 5000

The bylaw is proposed to have exemptions where salvage would be unsafe due to fire or water damage.

On January 25, 2022, Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) Council directed staff to proceed with an update of the Green Building Policy and an associated stakeholder engagement process.

An initial round of engagement happened in February 2022. This first sector-specific workshop was used to identify opportunities, constraints, and feasibility of proposed targets, metrics, strategies, and requirements.

Feedback received during this initial round of engagement was incorporated into the first draft of the updated Green Building Policy. To refine the policy further, municipal staff are now soliciting feedback on the draft policy from all stakeholders during a second stakeholder and community engagement.