The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen is submitting applications for the purchase of carts, kitchen catchers and contracted education services to begin a curbside residential food waste collection program.
Two applications have been submitted to the province’s CleanBC Organics Infrastructure and Collection Program. One is for the Campbell Mountain Landfill Compost Facility project and the other is for Electoral Area A and Electoral Area C. Electoral Area A is rural Osoyoos and Electoral Area C is rural Oliver.
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Cameron Baughen, solid waste management coordinator at the regional district, said the Campbell Mountain project is for the design and construction of a food waste and biosolids composting facility. This project is expected to cost around $23 million.
The project for rural Oliver and rural Osoyoos would involve the construction of a compost site at the Oliver Landfill.
The grants would be funded in part from the Organics Infrastructure Program.
Summerland has also received grant funding from the Organics Infrastructure Program for the construction of a residential food waste compost site at the Summerland Landfill.
This grant requires the construction of the compost sites by March 31, 2022 for both the Summerland and Oliver landfills.
The food waste program would provide two-thirds of the funding for the food waste curbside collection program, with the remaining amount to come from the regional district.
At present, the regional district is constructing a residential food waste compost site at the Oliver Landfill to handle the composting of residential materials from Oliver, Osoyoos, the Osoyoos Indian Band and nearby rural areas.
Borrowing for the projects is already supported by the regional district’s Solid Waste Management Plan.
Reserve funding could be used for the rural areas, thus eliminating the need for borrowing.
The regional district is planning to consult with residents in Electoral Area A and Electoral Area C on how food waste will be collected. This will allow the food waste collection program to begin in these areas in 2022.
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