The Regional District of East Kootenay (RDEK) is implementing a temporary storage plan as the City of Fernie begins its first curbside organics collection next week.

“The construction on our Elk Valley Organics Processing and Receiving Facility is not quite complete and while we are working to get the required infrastructure in place as quickly as possible, there will be an overlap between when the curbside collection starts in Fernie and when we can receive it at our facility in Sparwood,” explained RDEK Solid Waste Superintendent Jim Penson.

The RDEK has a contractor working to complete the electric bear fencing around the receiving area and cannot accept organics until the fencing is completely installed and functional.

“We expect a two or three week overlap between when collection starts in Fernie and when we can accept the materials in Sparwood. As a result, we will be taking the collected organics to the Fernie Transfer Station and stockpiling them in the unused third bay within the Transfer Station building before hauling to our Central Receiving Facility outside Cranbrook until the Sparwood site is ready. This allows our contractor to ensure the organics are properly managed and that the facility can be fully locked each night.”

The RDEK wants to ensure the public is aware of the temporary storage plan so that there is no confusion.

“We want residents and users of the Transfer Station site to be aware that the third bay is not used for garbage collection. Most recently, we’ve been using it to store mattresses as part of our mattress diversion program. This gives us a lockable, secure place to stockpile the organics for short period of time until our fencing is complete. At no time will any of the collected organics be co-mingled with household garbage – they will be kept completely separate,” added Penson.

The Elk Valley Organics Receiving and Processing Facility is one of three under construction within the region. While the three sites are not expected to be fully open and operational until spring, both the Central and Elk Valley sites have been set up to collect and safely stockpile organics until the full processing can begin.

To learn more, visit https://engage.rdek.bc.ca/organics.

RDEK

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