District moves forward with food waste collection program
After getting a positive response from the public, the Regional District of Central Okanagan board has given staff the green light to proceed with developing a curbside food waste collection service.
At their meeting on Thursday, Feb. 22, the board was presented with results from recent public engagement on a curbside food waste collection program. The purpose of the initial engagement was to gauge support for program and identify concerns residents may have.
Loyal Wooldridge, board chair, said they heard loud and clear that residents want to manage food waste differently to protect the environment and combat climate change.
“What we’ve discovered through this engagement is that people enthusiastically support a curbside food waste collection program in the Central Okanagan. We’re excited to see this initiative advance with staff exploring creative and economical options for a curbside program to minimize food waste in the landfill,” Wooldridge said.
The engagement was conducted in the fall of 2023 and included a statistically valid survey of over 1800 residents, as well as education and engagement opportunities through the Regional District’s engagement platform yoursay.rdco.com.
RDCO said the key findings of preliminary engagement were:
- 73 per cent of respondents are enthusiastic about a curbside food waste program.
- Primary concerns include cost and pick-up schedules.
- Barriers include wildlife and pests, plus odours and mess.
The next steps will be a service design phase to determine where composting of food waste will take place, if a transfer station is required and considerations for siting, costs related to collection, transport, and processing of food waste, frequency of collection and identifying further public consultation and education needs.
The service model will then be presented to local levels of government and include additional feedback from the public.
Residents can stay up to date on the project by visiting yoursay.rdco.com.