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Food scraps program could lighten load at Trail dump

A new pilot program could reduce the amount of waste going into the Trail dump and give something back to the environment.

A new pilot program could reduce the amount of waste going into the Trail dump and give something back to the environment.

The food scraps program in Grand Forks has reportedly kept up to 70 per cent of waste out of its landfill over the last year.

Now the project could be implemented across the regional district, including Greater Trail’s McElvey Creek Landfill.

The project was popular in Grand Forks and composted meat, fruit and vegetables into soil. When the East End Services (EES) committee—that includes the communities of Trail, Warfield, Montrose, Rossland, Fruitvale and Areas A and B—looked at the amount of waste saved from the landfill the idea was adopted for consideration.

“If we can reduce the waste going to the dump by 50 per cent … you have now extended the life of the dump by 60 years,” said Robert Cacchioni, the city’s representative on the EES committee.

And with the current dump expected to be full in 30 years—and a new dump cost in the range of $300 million—the new project could be worth tens of millions of dollars to extend the life of the landfill, said Cacchioni.

“It’s not only important environmentally, but it’s valuable in terms of the economy because you are saving a fortune,” he said.

The project could be introduced within the next year in some parts of the region. Food scraps material would be used to enhance regional district and municipal lands. The scraps would be sorted by homeowners and would go into a separate bin from garbage.

As well, the EES committee will be considering putting in a second access to the landfill, creating a berm along the backside of the landfill between it and the high school.

Approved by the regional district’s environmental committee, the new access and berm could cost up to $2.5 million, paid for from across the regional district.

The new access would be further up the highway past the current entrance. It would go in where some earth material was previously removed from the side hill.

It would solve the problem of where people are turning, eliminating congestion, and it would give the dump more room on the side near the high school, giving it around 70 years of life.

“There are all of these East End communities relying on that landfill and we really can’t afford to build another. We really don’t have the place to put it,” said Cacchioni.