City of Kamloops organics collection returns to weekly pickup this week

KAMLOOPS — The weather may not feel like it quite yet, but spring has nearly sprung in Kamloops and the city’s organic waste collection will be reverting back to weekly pick-ups.

Over winter months, the City of Kamloops opted to drop down to bi-weekly organics collection with the expectation that there would be fewer items filling up bins.

Speaking to CFJC Today from the Bunker Road yard waste depot, Streets and Environmental Services Manager Glen Farrow says that was how it played out.

“[For] December, January and February, February we saw the lightest amount of weight coming through, and we had about 250 metric tonnes,” explains Farrow. “Whereas through the fall and with the yard waste in our mix, we were seeing more than 500 tonnes getting diverted through September and October.”

As weekly pick-ups resume this week, residents are reminded to use the City’s WasteWise app to make sure they’re putting items in the correct bins and putting the right bins out for trucks on collection days.

“Even now, I see a bag full of apples in a plastic bag,” Farrow says while pointing out contaminants in a recent organics collection pile. “The apples? Great. We want to see those apples but do not put them in a plastic bag. Paper bags are great, but any plastic, that is what causes issues for the contamination and our equipment.”

For overflow tree prunings, grass clippings or other yard waste, Farrow adds that this month, yard waste depots around the city will return to normal operating hours.