Presentation by staff to RDOS Directors on a future regional composting site.

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I think I can tell this story best with a bit of personal history. In the good old days, my father would load up the car with kids and a trunk load of paper bags full with stuff that didn’t burn well in a barrel. (Circa 1955).

In those days the area had a dump with no one attending on it. People would drive up the hill west of Oliver to a ravine just north of the old Fairview Townsite. Old timers might remember other sites before the Town and the Regional District got together and set up a government run garbage dump with a few rules, fees, and staff watching what was going on.

In more than 50 years much progress has been made but one worry – finding a new site – basically taken away with modern recycling of paper, cardboard, glass, tins, containers and plastic. The life of dumps extended by decades and more.

What’s  next? – Reduce the amount of garbage with the composting of food, residential and commercial and all forms of waste products that decompose and can be converted into useful fertilizer.

We are on the brink of doing just that in the RDOS but the NIMBY effect may slow down the process.

RDOS technical staff are recommending one site just off Highway 3A (Marron Valley Rd) on PIB locatee land. The staff say it will likely be welcomed by the owners and the amount of SMELL for 30 nearby homes will be minimal if the latest technology is utilized in the compost plant.

Some directors at the RDOS like the idea, others that represent residents, are unsure and want way more information before public hearings or meetings are set-up for the spring and summer period.

Area D Director Tom Siddon, representative for that location west of Kaleden says he wants to see and hear much more detail before he engages the public that could be affected adversely by the smell or rotting food.

Directors vote to take the process to the next step – passing an amendment to the Solid Waste Management Plan to allow a public consultation process on a number of sites:

The preferred choice – Marron Valley

Back up location – Summerland – better on odor control but futher from the center of the RDOS

Oliver – where staff would recommend that the Osoyoos Oliver area join for residential composting only and other sites that rated poorly when ranked.

Some discussion at the board room table that a number of sites might work better than one large plant.

That debate made sense to some but did not seem to gather momentum.

Schedule of current tipping fees at regional landfills. Staff predict this will rise to $110-$130 in the near future. If an when composting takes place – present landfills will receive less product but the cost remains much the same. Tipping fees will increase and staff hope that all rates are harmonized so that dumpers do not travel to a site with lower fees.