Regional District of Nanaimo directors voted to raise rates for food and yard waste at Nanaimo’s composting facility.
According to Daniel Pearce, acting general manager of regional district solid waste services, the residential rate to take food scraps to the Duke Point facility will increase to $122 per tonne from $90, while the cost to take yard material will rise to $45 per tonne, from $42. Commercial rates will stay the same, he said.
The rate increases came about as a result of completion of an agreement between the regional district and Nanaimo Organic Waste Ltd., which took over ownership of the site from the ICC Group in August. Nanaimo Organic Waste spent $1.45 million to upgrade the facility as part of the agreement.
At the regional district board meeting last month, Dave Hammond, part of the Nanaimo Organic Waste ownership group, detailed some of the changes, stating a biofilter was replaced and a new aeration system was added, with new blowers and pipes to ensure positive airflow. Hammond said the new ownership group also paid off outstanding debts.
The work has been to the satisfaction of solid waste services, according to Pearce.
“The odour complaint has been dealt with, as per the measures. Some of those facilities will always have some minor odours, but I think the issue of odours has been dealt with,” said Pearce.
The regional district and Nanaimo Organic Waste will also enter into a longer-term deal now that the odour issues are solved, said Pearce.