While a curbside organics collection program was originally expected to roll out in Castlegar in October, the city says the start date has been pushed back to April 1.
Municipal services manager Chris Hallam says there are two key reasons for the delay.
“We realized it wasn’t going to be practical, first of all [because of] supply chain issues, especially around ordering new bins,” he said.
“Other municipalities in some instances were finding bins taking over six months to get, so we wanted to slow down and give ourselves to get that right.”
Additionally, the city’s current contract for garbage and recycling pick-up expires at the end of March 2023, so it provides an opportunity to roll all three collection services into a single contract.
Although garbage and recycling pick-up will remain bi-weekly, organics collection will be conducted every week.
Hallam says they expect to go to tender in the next few months on both bins and collection service.
He adds they’ll circulate educational materials ahead of the program’s start explaining how it will work and what can be included in the compost bins.