More garbage is being placed in curbside collection carts across greater sa国际传媒 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trash volumes have risen 20 per cent with more people working from home rather than commuting to an office, regional officials say.
"Waste generation and disposal have increased with a large proportion of the population staying close to home," says regional engineering director David Komaike.
At the outset of the pandemic earlier this year, Komaike says, the Central Okanagan's waste management system was plagued with missed collections, equipment shortages, slower pick-up times and rising customer complaints.
With more congestion than usual in residential areas because of the number of people working from home, the time it takes a garbage truck to complete pick-ups on an average block has increased from nine to 15 minutes.
A so-called Tag a Bag program, which allows people to set out more waste than can be put in the carts, was suspended earlier this year. As of Aug. 25, however, the service has resumed.
Garbage, recyclables and yard waste is collected in separate carts from residential areas across the Central Okanagan. Despite considerable publicity over the years about which items go into which cart, cross-contamination is still an issue, though the problem appears to be lessening overall.
Between 2018 and 2019, contamination rates declined slightly, to an average of about six per cent of total volumes, in sa国际传媒, Lake Country, and West sa国际传媒.
The contamination rate in Peachland, however, rose from seven per cent to 13 per cent. Homeowners can be fined if they consistently use the carts improperly.
Improperly sorted trash, yard waste, and recyclables can be spotted by the vehicle operator using on-board cameras that provide a live feed of cart contents as they are emptied into the truck.
Additionally, this fall the regional district plans to once again hire people to roam neighbourhoods and peer into the collection carts on the designated pick-up day to see if the items have been sorted correctly. The so-called 'ambassadors' put special notices on the carts where the items have been mixed up.
