Kelowna

Regardless what City Council or the Regional District think, at least one Kelowna man believes the Trash to Treasure concept is an idea worth pursuing.

Trash to Treasure is in essence a community-wide garage sale where people put items they no longer want in the front yard for anyone to take.

The city-wide event, which has run successfully in Surrey and Nelson, would last one day.

City Councillor Luke Stack brought the idea to the attention of council in May of last year.

"This is a zero-waste focused event which provides citizens an opportunity to give away good quality household items which others may find value in," Stack told council when introducing the concept.

"It's based on the concept of one man's trash is another man's treasure. I would like to introduce this idea to Kelowna."

On Monday, City Council will be asked to say no to the concept, but instead support a recommendation by the Waste Reduction Office to hold multiple reuse events through the Regional District, including:

A reuse event that targets goods that are not typically considered as reusable

A waste reduction week community yard sale

Linking reuse groups with specific types of waste that is mutually beneficial.

In researching the Trash to Treasure concept, it represents a high risk to the community and organizations that accept reusable items, due to significant clean up efforts and costs at the end of the event, costs it says can range from $80,000 to $200,000.

Keelan Lightfoot disagrees.

The Kelowna man started a Facebook page and Kelowna Trash to Treasure website several months ago after hearing Councillor Stack's plea to host the event in Kelowna.

Lightfoot says he plans to try and forge ahead on his own.

"I wanted to see where it sat with City Council before I went any further," says Lightfoot.

"At least this gives me some direction."

Lightfoot says he wants to hold the event in May.

"I haven't come up with a specific date. I was waiting to see what happened with the city."

He only has 56 members on his Facebook page but admits he hasn't been working on it that hard.

Lightfoot believes once he pins down a specific date and gets the word out, interest will grow.

He says the interest has been positive among those he has spoken to.

City Council will make its decision Monday.

Link: Link to Trash 2 Treasure website Link: Link to Facebook Group Page