RDNO provides cash for waste-reduction programs

Photo: Contributed

The regional district is letting money go to waste.

The Regional District of North Okanagan's ReTHINK Waste Project Grant Recipients were recently named with each group receiving funding from the political body.

The six approved projects to receive funding for a portion of the project cost totalling more than $47,000 and include:

• $1,000 to Beairsto Elementary for waste reduction and waste management education.
• $600 to the Crafting a Change Program at Clarence Fulton Secondary to produce reusable produce and snack bags from clean, repurposed fabrics.
• $5,000 to City of Vernon for the extension of the City’s organics collection bin program and development of materials and programming to increase understanding of composting in the community.
• $7,065 to Habitat for Humanity’s Kitchen Salvage Program that dismantles, picks up and reuses/resells used kitchens (fixtures and appliances), diverting them from landfills.
• $32,750 to Interior Freight & Bottle Depot to develop a program and infrastructure to accept food scraps from residential and small restaurants, which will be processed and fermented into fertilizer.
• $1,500 to Interior Provincial Exhibition to help IPE fair guests divert food and compostable waste from landfills

“We designed the grant program to support innovative solutions to reduce waste throughout the North Okanagan, and we were happy to receive a lot of interest in the program. The increased awareness and the quality of applications led to us being able to distribute more funding than in previous years,” said Kevin Acton, RDNO chairperson.

“The grant program is aptly named ReTHINK waste as it supports projects that ReTHINK waste well before it is generated, which is an important strategy in reducing waste. Individuals and organizations with projects like these can make a substantial impact in conserving our landfills and resources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our region.”

While 2022 may seem far away, tTabout an innovative waste reduction project to apply for the next program intake in the fall of 2021.