-Nine-month pilot program will determine if rural collection permanent-

OSOYOOS TIMES-February 27, 2008-

By Chad IngramrnOsoyoos Times

Next week, for the first time ever, rural Osoyoos residents will have the luxury of leaving their garbage and recycling waste on their curbs for pickup.
On March 4, the Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) will launch its curbside pickup pilot program for Area A, which includes Anarchist Mountain and the Kilpoola areas. The service will include biweekly garbage and recycling pickups, seasonal yard waste pickups and a once-a-year pickup of a large item, such as an appliance or piece of furniture.
The mandatory program will cost $10 a month per household. The RDOS has said that all properties with homes on them will be charged, with demolished and burned down homes exempt.
In July 2007, Area A residents were issued surveys asking if they'd be interested in a curbside pickup program. About 80 per cent of Area A's nearly 2,000 residents responded positively, with the remaining residents calling for no new services.
It is currently the responsibility of rural Osoyoosites to transport their waste to the landfill on their own.
Under the pilot program, Area A's garbage will be taken to the Osoyoos Sanitary Landfill while its recycling waste will go to a sorting plant in Kelowna.
Waste Services Inc., which also collects garbage for the Town of Osoyoos, has been contracted for the job.
All other RDOS areas, with the exception of Area H, have some kind of curbside pickup program in place, said RDOS environmental programs co-ordinator Cameron Baughen.
The pilot program will run until November, when a referendum question concerning its continuance will appear on the ballots of Area A residents during the RDOS election.
Area A Director Mark Pendergraft said he believes the program will improve the recycling habits of rural Osoyoos residents and hopes to see the program succeed.
My hope is that the residents find it a valuable service and that it will reduce the amount of garbage going into the landfill, Pendergraft said.
Rural home owners should receive an information package including a collection calendar indicating pickup times in the mail by Feb. 29.