The city of Salmon Arm hopes the city’s new green bin program that came into effect last month will extend the lifespan of their landfill.

Mayor Alan Harrison says the landfill run by the Columbia Shuswap Regional District has about 40 years of life left at the current usage rates.

He says that 30 per cent of the landfill is organic waste that shouldn’t be there in the first place.

“We want to try and increase that life by at least 50 per cent because it’s extremely difficult to relocate a landfill,” he said. “If we can remove 30 per cent of material from there, that’s going to increase that lifespan of the landfill.”

A green bin pilot program from last year in Salmon Arm had promising results, he noted.

“There was some reluctance at the start from people to take part in the pilot but by the end of the pilot, none of the houses wanted to give up their organic containers,” Harrison added. “They learned how it works, and they learned that they could make it work. So that was a good sign. I think the program that we have in place, I think it will work.”

Harrison adds he is challenging residents to reduce the amount of garbage and recyclables they generate, while also diverting more waste to the green bin program that came into effect on July 1.