Waste dumped on Cultus Lake area farmland came from Surrey green bins

Hundreds of truckloads of waste that were dumped on a farmer’s field near Cultus Lake over six months last year came from Surrey household green bins.

The discovery by neighbours, who alerted officials to the dump site soon after trucks started rolling into Columbia Valley in early spring, raises questions about how B.C.’s green waste is managed and tracked after it arrives at local composting facilities.

“In this case green was not green,” said Jason Vasilash, a Columbia Valley resident whose lavender farm lies in the small valley between Cultus Lake’s southern shore and the United States border. “Municipalities wash their hands of it when it leaves their doorstep, and at the end of the day, this is what’s left.”

Vasilash said the farmer told neighbours he was trying to improve his land by applying compost. Under provincial regulations, farmers can apply Class-A compost to amend their soil with minimal oversight.