Castlegar residents got a glimpse into what the city’s curbside organics collection program is likely to look like through a report that the city’s director of municipal services, Chris Hallam, gave to city council at their last meeting.
Originally expected to roll out in fall, the program is now slated to begin in April of 2023.
Curbside organic collection for things like food scraps and yard waste will take place weekly, but garbage and recycling will continue to be on alternating weeks.
The city plans to transition resident’s current 242-litre garbage carts into organics carts that would also be used for yard waste.
Hallam said that, in theory, residents should be reducing their regular garbage by diverting the organics, so the city will purchase smaller, 121-litre carts to become the regular garbage carts.
Two thirds of the cost of the carts will be funded through a grant the RDCK received to assist with implementing organics collection in the district.
Residents will also be given an indoor kitchen-catcher container for collecting their organics.
The program is only for residential collection, not commercial.
Once the new program is in place, the city will phase out the yard waste drop-off point at the Castlegar Community Complex.
Remaining steps include ordering carts, contracting a service provider and adjusting waste/recycle rates.
Hallam says once everything is set, the city will engage in a thorough education campaign.
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Background info:
The Regional District of Central Kootenay (RDCK) was awarded a $1.2 million grant to support the establishment of the service in Castlegar and Creston. The grant money will be used to pay for containers, educational materials, and staffing support to get the program up and running.
The city’s compost will got to a composting facility set up by the RDCK at the old landfill site in Salmo. The facility will compost using a process called aerated windrows. It will include a building that will house a mixer – a large piece of industrial equipment to mix the various components of the compost, along with various electrical components and blowers to aerate the compost mixture.
betsy.kline@castlegarnews.com
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