Residential home owners across Kamloops could be separating their food waste from the rest of their garbage by the fall of 2023.

A new recommendation headed to council would have the organic waste collection system, which is currently being piloted in Juniper, transition into a city wide program.

If given the green light, homeowners who have individual garbage pick up could be sorting and separating food and lawn trimmings by next September.

Environmental Services Manager Glen Farrow says it would potentially cover around 27-thousand homes across the city.

“At this point, our focus and our target is properties that are on curbside garbage and recycling collection. So if you have a cart, where you put your waste and roll it to the curb, you would have a third cart for collecting that organic material.”

Farrow says the plan is to have weekly, alternating pick-ups of the food and yard waste.

“The key is to really get that smelly organic material out of the home, off the curb, and through collection each and every week.”

The pilot here in Kamloops has been well received, as it has been in other parts of this province, explains Farrow.

“Across Metro Vancouver, organics have been outright banned for landfill disposal for almost 10 years now, so in some ways we are somewhat behind compared to the rest of the province.”

If approved, the City of Kamloops could also be looking at the use of bear-proof containers.

However, it appears the idea of bear-resistant bins isn’t sitting well with the Mayor of Kamloops.

Ken Christian expressed his opinion during a committee meeting Tuesday.

“These bears are not employed by the City of Kamloops,” said Christian. “These are wild bears, so there is an obligation on the part of homeowners to secure their own waste in a way that isn’t going to be an attractant, you cant just do what you do everyday and expect the bear to go away.”

He explained that for those who live in an area with a bear problem should be vigilant.

“You have to be prepared in terms of waste you are putting out, time of day you put it out, those kinds of things,” noted Christian. “If you lived just outside the boundary of the City of Kamloops, you would be on your own, right?”

“So to expect the city is going to solve all bear encounter issues is a bit of a stretch. We will do what we have to but I don’t think we want to see bear proof carts throughout our system.”

Council is set to decide whether to expand the organic waste collection program along with the possibility of bear resistant garbage bins at a council meeting next week.

-With files from Abby Zieverink