Curbside pick-up of recyclables will be stopped at BԪַ-area homes where residents put too many improper materials in the blue carts, regional officials warn.
So-called ‘contamination rates’ are on the rise and are consistently above the maximum permitted level of five per cent of cart contents, regional solid waste supervisor Cynthia Coates says.
“Specific items continue to be the problem, things like books, clothing, hazardous waste, rigid plastics and electronics,” Coates says.
Glass, styrofoam, and plastic bags are also among the items being improperly placed in the blue recycling carts, she says.
Last year, the Central Okanagan Regional District was fined $37,500 by its Recycle BC curbside pick-up contractors under an agreement that sets the maximum contamination levels. The prohibited items are a problem because they must be sorted out of the recyclable stream, a time-consuming and costly process.
New “enforcement measures” will be undertaken this year to identify repeat offenders who stuff the recycling carts with prohibited items, Coates says. Recycling carts with repeated high contamination levels will not be emptied, an approach Coates says will place greater emphasis on residents to stop fouling the blue bins.
Collection trucks are equipped with on-board surveillance cameras that take a picture when a cart with banned items is hoisted from the curb and dumped into the vehicles. In a 2023pilot project, some trucks were equipped with an artificial intelligence system said to be able to spot and photograph prohibited items. The system automatically mailed out warning notes to property owners.
Specific information on what can go in the blue carts is available at .