RDOS waives landfill fees for community clean-ups

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen has waived tipping fees at landfills for community clean-up efforts. The district said in a news release that illegal dumping causes numerous problems including health, safety, environment, and economic threats like increased wildfire risk. This move to waive landfill fees was spurred by groups like the Okanagan Forest Task Force, a non-profit volunteer group dedicated to cleaning up trash in the backcountry. Recently the task force located a large dump site near Okanagan Falls with RVs, household trash, burnt cars, and other garbage. The task force organized a clean-up event today to attempt to tackle some of the garbage in the local woods.  “It’s impressive to see the work being done by volunteers to protect our natural environment,” the district’s chair Mark Pendergraft said in the release. “These cleanup events are important reminders to everyone to respect the backcountry and dispose of garbage and other materials at local landfills.” READ MORE: Volunteer group tackling largest encampment cleanup yet https://infotel.ca/newsitem/volunteer-group-tackling-largest-encampment-cleanup-yet/it101589 The task force anticipated hitting a milestone at today’s event; 1,000,000 lbs. of garbage and recyclable material removed from local forests. Community groups who want to organize clean-up efforts at illegal dumping sites can contact the district’s waste department in advance to get landfill tipping fees waived for their clean-ups. Click here https://www.rdos.bc.ca/assets/Uploads/Fillable-RDOS-IllegalDumping-Waiver-Sept2023.pdf for the district’s dumping tipping fee waiver. To contact a reporter for this story, email Jesse Tomas mailto:jtomas@infonews.ca  or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .