The City of Nanaimo鈥檚 waste collection system doesn鈥檛 accept deer carcasses.

The municipality advised residents of that guideline earlier this week after it was discovered last week that someone had put a deer carcass in their green bin, said David Thompson, city manager of sanitation, recycling and public works administration.

鈥淔riendly reminder, Nanaimo: animal carcasses are not acceptable in the green cart for composting! Please talk to your local game butcher about rendering options,鈥� noted the social media post from the city.

Thompson said the city鈥檚 messaging was already clear about not accepting roadkill, but felt greater clarification was needed about disposal of game carcasses.

鈥淚t鈥檚 primarily because of the fur. The fur and the skin is not compostable,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淎nd also the animals can be quite large, considerably different than what might come out of a kitchen.鈥�

He said the Regional District of Nanaimo鈥檚 organic waste contractor screens the truckloads for contaminants, sometimes finding items that shouldn鈥檛 be in the green bins, such as plastic plant pots.

鈥淭here鈥檚 always room for improvement,鈥� Thompson said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 one of the reasons why we have this feedback loop with the processing plant is to identify these things as they come up and provide clarification.鈥�

The city has been allowing residents of north and south Nanaimo to for smaller or larger carts this month, but larger green bins are not available because of capacity limitations at the organics processing plant.

鈥淲e have an open line of communication as to what we鈥檙e seeing on the ground in terms of our curbside collection and what residents are asking for and we always look to compare that with what the processing plant鈥檚 capabilities are and hopefully those two things are getting closer and closer as time goes on,鈥� Thompson said.

editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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