The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) has started up a pilot project in the Valmar area of Grand Forks that will see the collection of food scraps for composting.
“We know from our composition studies that about 40 per cent of the present garbage that is put out in garbage bags is food scraps and that’s the material we’re targeting with this collection program – anything that was in the garbage that was plant or animal,” said RDKB Solid Waste Program Co-ordinator Tim Dueck.
Green bins and beige kitchen buckets have been distributed to people in Valmar. “We are asking that instead of throwing it in the garbage, we are asking people to separate out food-related waste such as leftovers, baked goods (breads and cookies), muffin and cupcake paper, moldy cheese, rinds and peelings, egg shells, fruit pits and seeds.”
Items such as facial tissues and hand towels, wet newspapers, toothpicks and skewers may be placed in the bins as well.
The RDKB said that any kind of animal waste (dog feces and kitty litter), diapers, dryer sheets, twist ties, wood ash and cigarette butts are not to be placed in the bin.
“The way it works is, we’re giving people a little beige bucket (a kitchen bucket) with some paper bag liners. The purpose of the beige bucket is for people to fill up the bucket with their kitchen scraps and dump that into the green bin for weekly curbside collection,” the RDKB’s solid waste program co-ordinator explained.
The RDKB’s waste collection contractor, Kettle Valley Waste will be collecting the green bins every week using a split-body truck. As well, every week either garbage or recycling will be collected on alternating weeks. “With most of the potentially smelly items out of the trash, and people actively recycling, we should only have a small portion left as ‘garbage.’”
Paper liners have been provided for the beige bucket and green bins to decrease, as Dueck said, “the yuck factor.”
The compostable material will be taken to the composting site at the Grand Forks landfill.
“We already have a substantial, successful yard and garden waste composting process set up there, so we’re just going to be mixing these food scraps in with our existing yard and garden waste composting program,” said Dueck.
He said that Valmar was chosen because of the number of residents who are homeowners.
“We like that the Valmar and McCallum View Drive neighbourhood is kind of an isolated area unto itself,” Dueck explained. “It’s a contained subdivision, it’s a subdivision where most of the homes are owned and lived in by the homeowners, which is much easier to ensure a continuous resident in that spot so it’s easier to work with homeowners.”
He said that while Grand Forks isn’t the first municipality to test a food scraps recycling program in B.C., it is the first jurisdiction in Interior B.C. to do it.
“There are a lot of municipalities in British Columbia that are going to be doing this within a couple of years,” Dueck said.
The pilot project begins today (Jan. 18) and will run until July 11, at which time it will be determined whether to expand the service to all Grand Forks residents.
When asked what it would take to make the collection program one that is city wide, Dueck said that it would be dependent on whether it’s acceptable to residents and successful at accomplishing goals of diverting food waste.
“The input from Grand Forks city council is part of the decision-making process,” Dueck said. “Our Solid Waste Management Plan has described this service for the past five years as part of our landfill operations, so ultimately it’s a decision of the board of directors of the regional district. We also hope the lessons that we learn here can be translated to residents in the entire RDKB.
Go to the rdkb.com for a complete list of what can and can’t go in the green bins.
