Diverting Organic Waste from RDCK Landfills:

The RDCK has started large-scale composting services for our communities.

Two new composting facilities have been constructed to accept organic waste from municipalities, rural residents, and commercial sources. The Creston Composting Facility, located at the Creston Landfill, opened June, 2022. The Central Composting Facility, located at the Central (Salmo) Transfer Station, opened in August 2023.

Check out this video about the Castlegar Curbside Green Bin Program and the Central Composting Facility!

Public Access

Anyone can self-haul to one of the facilities the RDCK has built or upgraded and drop off their household organic waste.
Visit the RDCK Website for more info, or call (250) 352-8161 before arriving for up-to-date Facility Operating Hours and Closures.
All Facilities are CLOSED on ALL Statutory Holidays

The fee is $2.50 per container (120L max), up to 4 containers. If container loads are brought in with Mixed Waste, the first container can be disposed of for free.

More than 4 containers will be charged the minimum fee of $9.75; or, if weighing more than 100kgs, 10% of tonnage at $96.75/tonne.

Any loads from the public that could fill a pick-up truck bed (1.5m³) requires 48-hour notice. Call 250-352-8161 to book a disposal appointment.

Accepted Materials

The RDCK Composting Facilities can take a wider range of materials than can typically be composted at home, such as meats, small bones, dairy and cooked foods. We encourage anyone with curbside services to utilize them.

Organic waste disposal is governed by the Resource Recovery Facilities Regulatory Bylaw.

Schedule I and H of the Bylaw outline the accepted and prohibited material list. Below is additional context on what can and cannot be accepted.

Most of the organic waste produced by residents and businesses will be in the form of Kitchen Wastes. Kitchen waste is defined as compostable plant and animal derived food waste material including raw and cooked food waste. Kitchen waste includes, not is limited to:

• Fruits and vegetables (without stickers) meat, fish, shellfish, poultry and small bones dairy products bread, pasta, grains and baked goods tea bags (paper filters only), coffee grounds and filters Food soiled paper towels and napkins
• Food soiled parchment and butcher paper
• Food soiled cardboard and paper (pizza boxes, paper take-out containers)
• Egg shells
• Animal bedding: straw, hay, wood shavings
• Fish waste: all parts of fish
• Livestock manure: from cattle, goats, horses, sheep, pigs, poultry
• Grass, leaves & straw: Think “soft” yard and garden – doesn't need to be chipped
• Small twigs, stems, and flowers: less than 2” in diameter and 12” in length
• Brewery waste/winery waste: non-liquid spent grains, grapes, hops or yeast
• Butchery waste: meat, fat, skin and small bones (would otherwise be saleable/consumable food)
• Bones less than 2” in diameter
• Condemned foods: spoiled and expired food that can't be sold/consumed – without packaging, must be less than 5% liquid
• Dairy processing waste: non-liquid material from processing dairy

Prohibited Materials

Essentially, if it wasn't once food you'd have in your kitchen, or made of 100% paper/cellulose, it probably doesn’t belong.

Unfortunately, at this time, we cannot accept compostable plastic materials of any kind. Anything that resembles plastic, even if it is a certified compostable product (i.e., BPI) must stay out. Bags, cutlery, and most containers that display compostable labeling will be made of material that takes a very long time to properly decompose. Our facilities are not designed for these bio-polymers, and will result in the creation of micro-plastics that remain in the environment once they leave the aerated windrows.

• Plastics: Plastics of any kind will contaminate the compost.
• Produce stickers are made of plastic! Please ensure they have been removed prior to disposal.
• Sharps: Sharps in any size or quantity, or items that could produce sharps when put through the mixer will render the compost unsaleable. Examples: glass, plexiglass, needles, syringes, metal, blades.
• Infested vegetation: basically means trees, shrubs, plants, fruits that show the presence of disease, pathogens or pests.
• Noxious/Invasive weeds: The RDCK has a great, free program for disposal (landfilling) of noxious weeds (or invasive species). We donʼt want these seeds further spreading through our finished product, and some noxious weeds like scotch broom or knapweed can withstand more heat than the aerated windrows produce.
• Animal bones greater than 2” in diameter
• Anything containing more than 5% Free Liquids Cattle waste from abattoirs
• Diatomaceous earth
• Cooking oil or used cooking oil, (except within cooked or prepared foods i.e., less than 5% of the total volume)
• Dead animals and parts (i.e. dead pets)
• Full, unprocessed carcasses, Offal (entrails), hunting or slaughter wastes (hides etc.) Requires separate declaration process to dispose of dead animals in the landfill
• Domestic septic tank sludge
• Cat litter and pet feces
• Municipal wastewater bio-solids
• Pet hair or human hair

Why Composting, Why Now?

Reduce Landfill Emissions

Rotting organic waste buried in the landfill creates methane (CH4). Methane is a Greenhouse Gas (GHG) more potent that CO2, and traps heat from the sun in the atmosphere. Landfill GHG emissions accelerate climate change, and we are more aware than ever that a changing climate is a problem for everyone.

Extend Landfill Life

We don't have limitless space in our landfills. Keeping organic waste out of the trash frees up much needed capacity and extends their working life. While we’ve planned for the future and manage landfills for the long-term, the added space buys time and reduces the long-term costs of putting what can’t be re-used or recycled in its final resting place.

Less Trash More Soil

Organic waste provides a valuable resource when properly composted. Compost helps recycle nutrients back into soil, and healthy soils grow healthy plants. Additionally, soil itself stores carbon from the atmosphere - the more life within soil, the more carbon captured and stored.

How it Works

Composting occurs when high nitrogen organic material (greens) is mixed with high carbon organic material (browns) in ideal ratios, with plenty of oxygen and proper moisture. This environment allows decomposing microbes to thrive as they rapidly break down these organic wastes into a rich, alive, nutrient dense product known as compost. Compost is an excellent soil amendment, as these nutrients are readily available to plants for their growth.

The Central and Creston Composting Facilities both use active aeration to maintain proper temperature and oxygen levels during the decomposition period. This simple and proven technology combines clean wood and yard and garden waste with food and other organic waste. The mixed material is then placed over aeration piping in long piles called windrows.

This method promotes active decomposition, limits odours, prevents methane generation, and produces a safe, high- quality product. Once available, the RDCK will be selling to the public and making available to partners the Class-A compost produced at these facilities.