Kamloops residents are recycling and composting more than ever before, helping nearly double the city’s residential waste diversion rate while significantly extending the lifespan of local landfills.

A report presented to city council Tuesday shows residential curbside waste diversion has climbed from approximately 18% in 2021 to nearly 50% in 2025, largely driven by the introduction of curbside organics collection in 2023.

Utilities and Environment Manager Glen Farrow told council the city’s organics program has become a major success story.

“A huge benefit to where we’re at today is because of that organics program that was introduced by council and approved and moved forward,” Farrow said.

The report shows Kamloops residents are sending less waste to landfill overall. Per-capita disposal has dropped from 720 kilograms per person in 2017 to 650 kilograms in 2025, an 1% reduction. However, the city remains well short of ambitious targets established in the Community Climate Action Plan, which calls for a 50% reduction by 2028 and a 90% reduction by 2050.

Despite the progress, city officials say there is still room for improvement. Waste audits found households continue to throw away an average of 4.1 kilograms of compostable material each week.

“There’s still an opportunity to get more recyclables and more organics out of our current waste stream,” Farrow told council.

The report found organics diversion is strongest during the summer months, when yard waste volumes increase. Participation rates in the city’s green cart program range from roughly 50 to nearly 80%, depending on the season.

Meanwhile, contamination rates in the organics stream remain low at just over 2%. Recycling contamination has also improved, though it remains above the 5% target established by Recycle BC.

Council heard that education campaigns, curbside inspections and enforcement measures have helped reduce contamination. Staff are also considering bringing back a proposal for smart camera technology that would identify contamination in recycling carts and automatically notify residents. Similar systems are already being used in communities such as Kelowna, Abbotsford and Surrey.

The city is also examining opportunities to further increase diversion by expanding organics collection to multi-family and commercial properties. According to the report, compostable materials still make up 32% of multi-family garbage and 29% of commercial waste.

Councillor Mike O’Reilly praised residents for keeping contamination levels low in the organics program, calling the results impressive given how recently the service was introduced.

One of the biggest impacts of the city’s diversion efforts is being seen at local landfills.

Thanks to lower disposal volumes and the opening of the Stswékstem Engineered Waste Management Facility in 2023, updated projections show the Mission Flats Landfill’s remaining lifespan has increased from 38 years to 62 years. The Kamloops Resource Recovery Centre’s projected lifespan has grown from 43 years to 75 years.

Farrow said those numbers put Kamloops in a strong position for the future.

“The life expectancy of solid waste facilities for our community, we’re in a very, very good position based on our current tonnage of what we’re receiving,” he said.

While landfill revenues have declined because less waste is being received, city officials say extending the lifespan of the facilities could help delay the enormous costs associated with developing future landfill sites.

The report was presented to council for information and no decisions were required.