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January 31, 2020 - 3:03 PM
Summerland is one step closer to realizing a new and expanded local organics processing facility following the awarding of grant funding.
The municipality announced a grant award through the Organics Infrastructure Program totalling $2,371,500, with two-thirds of the cost covered by federal and provincial funding and one third funded by the District of Summerland.
The composting facility is expected to help the municipality reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in addition to expanding the processing capacity for handling local municipal and agricultural organic wastes.
The upgraded facility should also allow increasing the diversion of residential organic wasted currently being buried in the landfill.
The current composting operations at the Summerland landfill will be relocated to a new site within the landfill with newer technology and infrastructure that should improve operations, provide better environmental protection and reduce obnoxious odours.
A new class ‘A’ compost product will also be created at the site, using agricultural and residential food scraps that are currently collected under the municipality’s curbside program.
“A local organics processing facility at our landfill is good news for Summerland,” Mayor Toni Boot said in a media release.
“The production of a soil amendment that does not contain biosolids will certainly be a benefit to the area’s agricultural producers, but the diversion of agricultural and residential food waste from the landfill makes financial sense for the entire community. Doing so will extend the life of the Summerland landfill,” Boot said.
The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen continues to work toward an organics composting site in the South Okanagan. Earlier this month the regional board agreed to seek grant funding to build a new composting facility near the Campbell Mountain landfill.
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