Vernon considering bringing back popular composting program

This week Vernon councillors will discuss whether the city should bring back its popular compost bin pilot project.

However, the city’s manager of long-range planning is steering council away from the idea because of concerns about whether the department’s staff has time to implement and manage the compost bin program.

During the original pilot project, between April and November last year, the city had two large public composting bins where residents could drop off their compost.

That pilot program was more popular than expected.

The city said the two bins were “full or overflowing most weeks” and more than 232,000 pounds of organic waste was diverted from the landfill.
The success of that program has led to call to bring the pilot project back as the city researches its long term plans for composting.

The city has committed to studying, in coordination with the regional district, whether it would be realistic to bring in household organic waste collection.

However, if door-to-door composting is implemented it wouldn’t start till 2021 at the earliest.

In the meantime, councillors wanted staff to look into the possibility of bringing back the public composting bin pilot project.

A staff report said a renewed pilot project could include six bins around the city, would run from March to November, weather-permitting, and would cost the city $27,000 for composting removal.

The city estimates the renewed pilot project would divert more than 394,000 kilograms of organic material from the landfill.

However, the manager of the city’s long-range planning department said the department’s resources are “already constrained” as it is focusing on finishing a Climate Action Plan.

She is recommending council does not direct “limited personnel resources to a second pilot study.”

The issue will be up for discussion at the Vernon city council meeting on Monday.