Modernizing our solid waste management
The District of Kitimat has made major improvements to the collection and management of solid waste over the last number of years.
The changes means less waste reaching our landfills, more material being recycled, and diverting food waste to a compost facility located in our landfill.
Waste collection
Our curbside collection program, WayLessWaste, has enjoyed a steady progression since 2019.
In 2020, the District of Kitimat introduced curbside yard waste. In 2021 this expanded to curbside recycling, and in 2022 we introduced food waste collection.
In 2024, we managed to divert 186 tonnes of recycling, 295 tonnes of food waste, and 137 tonnes of yard waste.
That means that waste isn't adding to our landfill's limited capacity.
(And for scale, that's about the weight of 400 cars, just in that year alone!)
This is all thanks to the public for embracing this program to prevent more waste than is necessary reaching our landfill.
Local composting
The latest update to the Kitimat Landfill and solid waste management is the addition of a new compost facility.
Originally, food waste was taken to a composting facility outside of the community, but thanks to funding from CleanBC Organics Infrastructure Program and from LNG Canada we can now process compost locally.
- Initially, compost will be used by the District of Kitimat for landscaping and public garden purposes.
- We are exploring how we can further provide compost for use by the general community.
This video, from Transform Compost Systems, explains the project of developing Kitimat's compost facility:
Making a landfill to last
Many of these changes are good for the environment and promote less waste in our lives, but managing solid waste is also prudent and responsible to residents of Kitimat.
The Kitimat Landfill is nearing its lifetime capacity, and reducing what we fill it with means it will last even longer, sparing the immediate expense of the transition when it can no longer be used.
Towards that goal we have also introduced tipping fees and weight costs to those who self-haul their waste to the landfill. Here are some quick facts about the landfill:
- While property tax notices include a specific line for the collection of curbside waste, the cost to run the landfill itself is largely sustained through general property taxes.
- The tipping fees mean that those who require additional use of the landfill through self-haul support those additional costs.
Read more
Learn more about our solid waste strategy with these additional readings:
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