Island, Interior communities among those receiving funding for new compost projects

VANCOUVER -- Communities in British Columbia's Interior and on Vancouver Island are among those that will benefit from a new program aimed at expanding their ability to divert organic waste from landfills.

The $30-million Organics Infrastructure Program combines funding from the federal and provincial governments with investments from local municipalities interested in expanding their compost programs, according to a release from the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

A total of 12 communities have finalized agreements under the program, according to the ministry. This includes two composting facilities in the Central Kootenay Regional District, which together will provide the region with the capacity for food-waste processing for the first time.

Other projects are located in B.C.'s Central Coast, Columbia Shuswap, Comox Valley, East Kootenay, Kootenay Boundary, Northern Rockies, Okanagan-Similkameen and Summerland districts.

Funding for the efforts will be distributed over three years to support planning, design and construction, the ministry said.

Organic waste currently represents 40 per cent of what ends up in municipal landfills in B.C., and generates 7.5 per cent of the province's greenhouse gas emissions, according to the province.

Taken together, the 12 compost projects funded in the program are expected to reduce emissions by the equivalent of almost 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide over 10 years. The ministry says that's the equivalent of taking 100,000 cars off the road for a year.

The provincial government is aiming to divert 95 per cent of all organic waste from landfills as part of its CleanBC policy for reducing emissions.

"This program will help communities, the province and Canada meet our shared climate action goals," said George Heyman, B.C.'s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, in the release. "It will also help build B.C.'s clean economy by creating green jobs and setting the stage for the economic opportunities that come from the reuse of organic materials."