The city of Kamloops is seeing a higher than normal amount of traffic coming to the landfill.

Environmental Services Manager Glen Farrow says for the most part, it is business as usual, but with a lot of people at their houses and working in their yards and homes, it’s seeing people making dump runs quite regularly.

“With that higher traffic at our sites we’re anticipating delays. So encouraging people, if you don’t need to make that run, don’t make that run. We don’t want a reason to get out of the home is to come to our facility” says Farrow adding that one of the bigger changes is they aren’t accepting any cash right now.

“Everything that we normally accept at our three faculties is set up and going. Everything from cardboard, batteries, diversion products, to yard waste sites with the grass clippings and tree pruning. It is business as usual in what we’re accepting and the hours of operation at our sites. The only caveat to that is the Barnhartvale landfill is currently closed. We still have diversion area open where you’re able to drop off free materials and the yard waste facility is open, but the actual landfill in Barnhartvale has ceased since earlier in the week, since we stopped accepting cash.”

Farrow is also asking people who are feeling ill or are caring for someone who is sick to take some extra precautions. “Ensuring that you are double bagging and bagging any of those hygiene products like tissues and cloths or face masks, any of those things like that. They still are acceptable in the garbage, but please lock them down a little tighter. Secure those garbage cans and put them in the container in that way.”

Farrow asks that people wipe down their garbage containers when you put them out on the curb as well as not all of its collection routes are automated.

You can use the Waste Wise app is the most comprehensive and up-to-date resource for anything related to curbside collection or service level changes as things are moving quite rapidly in the current COVID-19 landscape.