Ribbon cut on new Oliver composting facility

Photo: Sebastian Kanally

All the people involved in the project, including Oliver councillors, MLA Roly Russell, RDOS representatives Rick Knodel and Mark Pendergraft, and representatives from Solid Waste and Sperling Hansen, present at the ribbon cutting for the new compost facility.

The ribbon was cut on a new composting facility at the Oliver Landfill on June 5, which will serve to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill, and contribute to cutting down its environmental impact.

The facility will see primarily yard waste enter a composting process, going through various stages of curing to come out on the other end as a compost product available for the public to purchase.

“It's exciting we are adding a new service, I really like building green projects, I don't think landfills are the answer long term, and if you can do stuff to divert waste that's the best way. Putting it in the landfill is not the answer,” said Andrew Reeder, Senior Manager of Solid Waste.

The facility is almost ready to begin the composting process, they still have to get and install some PVC pipes which will be used to aerate the piles.

They also went through the process of adding a hydrant on site to provide the needed moisture for the compost. The piles will be in front of cement barriers, which have a hole at the bottom for the oxygen pipes to come through.

Photo: Sebastian Kanally

Scott Garthwaite explaining how the piles of compost will be organized and taken care of when the facility is off and running.

“We will build our heap on top of that, and as that heap is developed, we will keep covering it with a tarp. We have sensors in that Bluetooth or relay to our tablet in real time what is going on. Whether we need to crank up our big fans to provide oxygen, or to add more moisture to it,” Scott Garthwaite, Office Manager for Sperling Hansen who is an applied science technologist by training, explained.

This project was largely funded by the Province’s Organics Infrastructure Program, which provided $800,000 of the total cost of $1.9 million. The remaining cost was shared by the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Leadership Fund, the Government of British Columbia, and the Regional District of the Okanagan-Similkameen.

Speaking about the facility Mayor Martin Johansen said, “we need it, managing the compost and reducing our carbon footprint and extending the life of our landfill are things we can't avoid, so let’s do it in the best way possible.”

Having the ability to compost on site in the Oliver area is step one to reducing the footprint of the landfill. Reeder said that “we are expecting a 26 per cent increase in landfill life by doing this.”

Photo: Sebastian Kanally

The compost piles will be organized in front of these cement barriers.

People can drop off their organic waste for free, which will enter the landfill and go through a series of steps before it comes out on the other side certified organic compost. This standard comes along with various testing and records that will be done on site to ensure its quality.

After the waste arrives in the receiving area, it will be moved to aerated compost piles, which will then be moved to piles for maturing and curing. Following this, the materials will then be screened before curing for another month or so, and finally stored as sellable material.

The paved area for the compost is also built on a grade and directed towards catch basins for any leeching that will come out of the piles.

Photo: Town of Oliver

The layout of the new compost facility at the Oliver landfill.

Roly Russel, MLA for Boundary-Similkameen, was excited to see the ribbon cut on this project, saying that, “our government has a very community approach to the work we do. So ideally communities are identifying what they want to do and we figure out how best do we support them in doing that. We know how significant emissions reductions are, so things like this align really well with our priorities.”

Reeder was enthusiastic about the project and its future. He commented that “we want to get going with the yard waste. Once we get all that settled, and the yard waste is moving well and we have a good understanding of it, then we will start bringing in food waste.”

He continued, “a big thing too is we want to make sure we are not causing a nuisance for our neighbours. We don’t believe this is going to create any sizeable odours. Mainly because we do not have a lot of food waste. The vast majority of this is going to be yard waste composting which doesn't really smell.”

Photo: Sebastian Kanally

For the time being there will be no curbside pick up to bring to this facility, but Reeder and Johansen expressed that this would be worth looking into as a next step. Reeder said that “this is the first step of that, having the facility you can take it to, then the next step is collecting it,” noting that it is council's decision about whether that happens.

Johansen added, “I think we have to understand the impact of that and the cost of that . . . we knew this was coming and we knew that’s a decision we have to make at the end of the day, so I look forward to getting more information on that and understanding the impacts, looking at different ways of getting that organic waste to the landfill.”