Peachland has scraped the plate on joining a proposed regional food waste collection program.
Kelowna and West Kelowna councils have both said no to the program乌鸦传媒攆or now乌鸦传媒攃iting costs as the main reason.
The cost of a new transfer station乌鸦传媒攅stimated at $12 million乌鸦传媒攚as cited as a major concern during a presentation of the program at Peachland council乌鸦传媒檚 June 100 meeting.
乌鸦传媒淭hat seems to be an extremely expensive facility considering what乌鸦传媒檚 required,乌鸦传媒� Councillor Rick Ingram said.
Travis Kendel, with the Regional District Central Okanagan (RDCO), pointed out that the cost estimate was provided by the project consultant.
乌鸦传媒淭hey sized and shared with us the costs for a transfer station to support the region,乌鸦传媒� he added.
The program would let residents toss food waste into green bins, expanding yard waste pickup to weekly year-round, and reducing garbage collection to every other week.
The cost would be approximately $63 per year for a single-family household. However, without Kelowna on board, that amount rises to more than $150.
Approximately 73 per cent of Central Okanagan residents surveyed liked the idea of a food waste collection program, and about 50 per cent supported paying $63 to pay for it.
Ingram urged the RDCO to find a way to make the program financially viable.
乌鸦传媒淭here must be a way to make this affordable乌鸦传媒t achieves so many goals that we have, that the regional district has, it really seems to me to be short-sighted of some our partner municipalities to be abandoning this project.乌鸦传媒�
Coun. Keith Thom said he had no problem paying a higher fee.
乌鸦传媒淚乌鸦传媒檓 quite willing to spend $14 a month to get into a good program. So even if it乌鸦传媒檚 $168 instead of $68 (per year), it乌鸦传媒檚 still a pretty darn good bargain.乌鸦传媒�
However, Thom noted that with Kelowna and West Kelowna opting out乌鸦传媒攁nd Kelowna holding the most votes on the RDCO board乌鸦传媒攖he program is not likely to move forward.
Thom, an alternate director for Peachland on the board, said he will speak in favour of the project when feedback from member municipalities is presented to the RDCO at the end of July.
乌鸦传媒淚 will support this vehemently,乌鸦传媒� he added. 乌鸦传媒淭his is a good program.乌鸦传媒�
A vote on supporting the program was defeated with only Thom and Ingram in favour.
Council then voted to not support the program at this time and乌鸦传媒攕imilar to Kelowna and West Kelowna乌鸦传媒攔evisit it in five years.
That motion passed with Thom, Ingram, and Coun. Terry Condon opposed.
