Residents across the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) can pre-purchase wholesale compost bins until March 21 at participating locations.

The RDOS will once again be offering free composting workshops in March and April.

The FreeGarden Earth Compost Bin is available for $44 plus taxes.

A curved black container, the compost bin helps break down garden waste, leaves, uncooked fruits and vegetables. It is a great system for creating rich compost for home gardens.

The Green Cone is capable of breaking down cooked food waste and meat. It is being sold for $124.85 plus taxes.

This system is buried partially in the ground where it breaks down waste directly into the soil.

The Green Cone is a great compliment to an existing compost bin.

In Penticton, residents can pre-purchase compost bins at Canadian Tire, GardenWorks, Home Hardware Penticton and Whole Foods Market.

In Oliver, Canadian Tire, Pacific Silica and the Riverside Garden Center will be pre-selling the two types of bins.

In Keremeos, residents can pre-purchase bins from the Keremeos Home Building Centre. The Summerland Municipal Hall and Osoyoos Sonora Community Centre are also pre-selling compost bins.

Collection of all pre-purchased bins will start Earth Day which falls on April 22.

The RDOS will be hosting free composting workshops at various locations.

The first workshop will take place on Monday, March 6 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Sonora Community Centre in Osoyoos.

A second workshop will take place on Wednesday, March 8 at the Oliver Community Centre.

Workshops include 5 Easy Steps to Composting and Indoor Worm Composting.

For more information, contact the RDOS Solid Waste Division at 250-490-4129, [email protected] or visit www.rdos.bc.ca.

Since the RDOS started selling these composting bins and holding composting workshops across the South Okanagan several years ago, there has been fantastic public response with hundreds of bins being sold and hundreds of residents attending the workshops, said Cameron Baughen, Solid Waste Management Co-ordinator for the RDOS.

As long as there’s strong public interest, the bins will continue to be sold in various retail outlets across the South Okanagana and workshops will be held in the spring each year, he said.

The compost bins are well made and last for several years, he said.

For further information, please contact  Baughen, at 250-490-4203 or [email protected].

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