While it will be a while before the City of Castlegar reports how successful the new curbside organics program is, at least by one yardstick things are improving: there aren’t as many complaints as before.
“Right now we’re happy to report the public’s concerns of deficiencies have decreased significantly,” operations manager Samuel Shine told council last week. “Behaviors and tensions have changed, so that’s good.”
“I’ve heard people who were opposed to it, now they’re liking it,” said councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff.
Municipal services manager Chris Hallam said two months into the program, their focus has been on roll-out, education, and helping people who are struggling.
However, once they’ve collected some more data, they will be reporting regularly to council about how much waste is being diverted from the landfill.
“Expect to see that coming. We’re just not quite at that point yet,” he said.
Under the program households will received new 120-litre carts for garbage pickup, while existing 240-litre carts were redeployed for organics and yard waste.
Organics is trucked to a new facility near Salmo where it is turned into Class A compost that can be used in agriculture and landscaping.