New Regional Home Retrofit Program - City Of Victoria

We are excited to let you know about a new climate action program kicking off in the CRD that may be of interest to homeowners who live in North Jubilee. The program supports homeowners through the process of making their home more climate friendly, reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and to motivate others in the community to do the same.

The Bring It Home 4 the Climate (Bring it Home) program was created to engage and support homeowners and organizations who are interested in being agents of change by reducing the energy consumption and carbon footprint of their homes and by taking steps to motivate other homeowners to do the same. Bring It Home helps homeowners take the next step, regardless of where they are in their retrofit journeys, and aims to lower the barriers to conversation and action.

The program offers three main benefits to participants:

  • Free Virtual Home Check-Up – Help for translating your personal and household goals into climate-friendly home improvement solutions

Participants will also become part of a supportive community of people taking action to make their homes climate-friendly and have the opportunity to share their story to be highlighted on the website and social media.

If you have any questions or are interested in discussing the program further, please let us know.

John Ho

Community Energy Specialist
Engineering and Public Works
City of Victoria
1 Centennial Square, Victoria BC  V8W 1P6

C 250.886.6836  F 250.361.0311

Prevent Fires: Keep Household Hazardous Waste Out of the Landfill - Capital Regional District - Environmental Services

Prevent Fires: Keep Household Hazardous Waste Out of the Landfill

If you are doing some clean-up around your home and yard, ensure that you are doing it safely and disposing of household hazardous waste properly. Old chemicals, cleaners or other hazardous products don’t belong in the garbage, where they can create serious problems and potentially spark landfill fires. While most of these fires are quickly contained by staff, there’s always potential for a fire to grow to an unmanageable level, especially in the dry summer and early fall, before winter rains arrive.

In the capital region, the majority of landfill fires are caused by these items:

Household batteries – These contain heavy metals like lead, cadmium, zinc, manganese and lithium that can be re-used if they’re recycled properly. Drop your batteries off for free at one of more than 50 locations across the region that collect these items for recycling – visit Call2Recycle.ca to find the location nearest you.

Household electronics – Electronics that contain most of these batteries are also easily recyclable – both at the Hartland Landfill recycling depot and at various other community sites.

Hot tub and pool chemicals – The only safe place for pool chemicals is in your pool or hot tub. Unused or expired chemicals can be dropped off at Hartland Landfill for free, keeping them out of the landfill and away from potential fire sources. 

If you have an item that you are unsure of, simply bring it to the Hartland public drop-off where staff have experience safely identifying and dealing with potentially hazardous items.

To learn where you can drop off these items and many others, visit www.myrecyclopedia.ca. To learn more about household hazardous waste visit crd.bc.ca/hhw.

Convert Your Yard This Summer - Capital Regional District - Environmental Services

Be Water Wise & Convert Your Yard This Summer

In the dry summer months, water use in the region nearly doubles due to outdoor watering of lawns and gardens. As the most common residential landscape, lawns are the thirsty culprit, accounting for the most excess water use. Unfortunately, about 50% of outdoor water is wasted due to evaporation, improper irrigation design and over watering. 

Water wise lawn alternatives like native plant and vegetable gardens can save you time and money, on top of your water savings. Forget mowing and costly lawn treatments. Native plants are adapted to our local climate and wildlife, requiring little to no watering once established and no herbicides or pesticides. They can also create an oasis for local birds, pollinators and beneficial insects. 

Vegetable gardens with efficient irrigation use up to 66% less water compared to traditional lawns and provide fresh and delicious food on your doorstep. They also save the energy that’s required to transport produce to the grocery store, and then to your home.

Convert areas of your lawn into garden with this quick and easy no dig method:

  1. Add a layer of light excluding mulch material such as brown cardboard or three layers of newspaper on to your desired piece of yard. Make sure the cardboard or newspaper overlaps by several centimeters as weeds can sneak through any gap.

  2. Water the cardboard/newspaper layer to help kill the grass and weeds. 

  3. Add a 10 cm layer of lightly patted down compost. Leave an edge of cardboard surrounding your new garden bed to prevent grass and weeds from growing back in. 

Now you’re ready to plant! Vegetables and herbs like kale, chard and parsley can be planted in the summer for fall and winter harvest. Native plant seeds can be planted in the fall for a spring bloom. Contact your community association for FREE vegetable or native plant seeds from the Capital Regional District.

Extend water wise practices to your lawn and go golden. Lawns naturally go dormant in the summer and will bounce back to green with the fall rains. To stay green, lawns only need an inch (2.5 cm) of water per week, even in the driest conditions. 

The Sooke Lake Reservoir, our primary water source in the capital region, supplies over 418,000 people with clean and protected drinking water. The reservoir also provides protection against wildfire events and droughts and supports a vital habitat for many endangered species. Be water wise and convert your yard this summer. 

Thank you for your continued water conservation efforts in the capital region.