Region avoids stinky mess
Kirk Penton - May 08, 2019 - Biz Releases

Photo: Contributed

The City of Kelowna and the Regional District of Central Okanagan have done some juggling to ensure the region doesn’t become a big, steaming pile of stink this summer.

When the city last year awarded the 10-year, $50 million curbside pickup contract to Toronto’s Environmental 360 Solutions, it created a potential five-month gap in coverage. The existing contract with a Kelowna company, OK Environmental Waste Systems, was set to expire on April 30, and E360 wasn’t scheduled to begin serving the Central Okanagan until Oct. 1.

To ensure garbage, recycling and yard waste was picked up between May 1 and Sept. 30, the city asked both companies to move their end and start dates. OK Environmental extended its contract until the end of May, while E360 will now start on June 1.

The only problem with that scenario is E360’s new line of trucks, which will use compressed natural gas, won’t be ready until Oct. 1. So the RDCO has agreed to purchase OK Environmental’s garbage trucks and have E360 use them until the natural gas units arrive in the fall.

At that point, the RDCO will try to sell the OK Environmental trucks to recoup some of the money.

“We’ll put them out into the market and see who bids on them,” City of Kelowna financial services divisional director Genelle Davidson said. “It’s very market driven, and it will depend on the need at the time that we put them out.”

Davidson said the trucks should fetch between $25,000 and $40,000, depending on their features and their conditions.

City of Kelowna purchasing manager Darren Tompkins told Okanagan Edge in Decmber the reason E360 wasn’t ready to go on May 1 was because the city, which negotiates the curbside pickup contract on behalf of the RDCO, didn’t start the tender process soon enough.

The contract covers Kelowna, West Kelowna, Peachland, Lake Country and the Regional District of Central Okanagan.


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