Work to remove construction waste pile on Penticton Indian Band resumes

The task of removing a huge pile of demolition waste from locatee land on the Penticton Indian Band has resumed.

The construction waste was left by Appleton Waste Services on land owned by Adam Eneas after the company went bankrupt in April, 2019.

The company had been using the property to stockpile around 3,360 tonnes of construction and demolition waste.

“After a four-month delay to address Worksafe B.C.’s elevated concerns, the contractor has finally commenced work,” Ecora President Kelly Sherman said in a press release issued Nov. 10.

Sherman's company has put together what he says is "a well thought out plan" to remove the debris and is providing its professional expertise for free as a way to give back during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sherman said in a September interview the original plan was to pull down the pile, sort it into recyclable and compost material, and dispose of the rest in a landfill.

The plan was paused in July for several months, however, after Worksafe B.C. insisted on further pile testing to determine whether any of the materials contained asbestos.

Asbestos concerns were alleviated following analysis of 120 samples of the waste revealed no trace of asbestos.

Sherman says the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen also had concerns about asbestos that have since been resolved.

“It has been excellent to see that many parties have rallied behind this initiative, and the goal of having the demolition waste issue resolved is still on track,” Sherman said.

Plans to manually sort the materials this fall relied on fruit pickers who would alternate between fruit picking and waste management.

Sherman says the delays have pushed most of the manual sorting operations into 2021.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad or call 250-488-3065 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to tips@infonews.ca and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.