Regional District of Central Okanagan to deploy recycling inspectors

The Regional District of Central Okanagan (RDCO) is taking a closer look at what residents are putting in their recycling carts.

It’s sending out inspectors to make sure residents are putting the right things in their blue bins.

Waste audits show there is significant contamination is occuring in the RDCO recycling stream.

That’s a problem, because the regional district’s recycling contractor, Recycle BC, charges financial penalties for unacceptable products.

According to the regional district’s manager of environmental services, Peter Rotheisler, RDCO recycling loads are close to 18 per cent contamination on average.

Recycle BC dictates contamination needs to be three per cent or less.

This fall, inspection teams will be looking through residential recycling carts.

If they find items that don’t belong, they’ll leave a sticker explaining what was wrong.

In some cases, the carts won’t be picked up until the unacceptable items are removed.

Here is a list of some of the items inspectors will be looking for:

• Electronics, small appliances (depot only recyclable)
• Hazards such as syringes, propane tanks
• Garbage such as food waste, paper towels, Kleenex
• Textiles such as clothes, fabric, pillows
• Plastic Bags, Styrofoam, Glass (DEPOT ONLY recyclable)
• Soft plastics such as cling wrap, bubble wrap, chip and snack bags, zipper bags
• Bagged recyclables
• Non-packaging plastics such as toys, Tupperware type containers, laundry baskets
• Garden hoses, landscape edging, tarps
• Soft cover novels and hard cover books and textbooks

Every year the regional district sends out an average of 3,500 letters directly to residents when the wrong materials are found in the recycling, garbage, and yard waste carts.