On the heels of Recycle BC's ultimatum to Osoyoos to curb it's contamination, the town is rolling out audits of residents' carts.
The town informed residents earlier in 2025 that Recycle BC had communicated that they were failing to meet their contractually obligated contamination rates for curbside recycling pickups.
According to a news release on Tuesday, July 15, the town has been seeing contamination ranging from eight to 16 per cent, when their contract requires they keep below five per cent.
That gives some more room compared with earlier releases that stated the contract requirement was three per cent with Recycle BC.
If the town can't get residents on board with cleaning up their act, Recycle BC will issue fines to the town, which would then be passed on to taxpayers.
Contamination includes the following:
* Containers with food or liquid inside
* Recyclables packed inside a plastic bag (plastic bags not accepted)
* Scrap metal, wood, broken glass, loose shredded paper and frozen food boxes
* Drinking glasses, ceramics, clothing and hardcover books
* Hazardous-material containers with any contents remaining
* Clothing and other textiles
For a full list of acceptable materials and guidelines, visit .
Town staff will be visiting neighbourhoods on collection day ahead of the garbage trucks and emptying out random recycling cans to inspect them for contamination.
After the inspection is complete, an audit result sheet will be left for property owners where the staff find contamination.
The town is also still on track to switch to fully automated garbage and recycling collection by the end of 2025, which means even less chance that contamination will be spotted on collection day that currently.
The City of Penticton also received a similar ultimatum from Recycle BC, with similar results of random inspections in order to drop its contamination rate by just under three per cent before the end of 2025.
