Yaletown Bentley condo shuts down composting over pests

A Vancouvercondo has been forced to suspend its organics composting programoverconcerns aboutflies.

According to a health bulletin posted by its strata council, the Bentley condo in Yaletown isworking with other strata councils and the food industry to find a way to reduce the number of flies buzzing around food recycling bins.

Other condo owners are also complaining thatMetro Vancouver'snew composting regulationis presentinga growing problem in complexes where there islimited indoor space for garbage, recycling and composting.

The new rules requiring that apartments and businessesseparate all food waste for composting went into effect Jan.1.

"We are dealing with issues that people are raising,like flies,cockroaches, silverfish and rodents,ratsandone of the big problems is there is not necessarily sufficient ventilation," saidTony Gioventu,executive director of the Condominium Home OwnersAssociation of B.C.

Gioventusays many highrise towers are simply notbuilt for garbage sortingand composting organics. Hesays it`s a challenge that many strata councils and service companies are struggling to deal with.

In the meantime, he recommendscondo owners wrap any leaky kitchen waste in newspaper or a bag, and then put it in a bucket before taking it out of their units. He saysstrata councils should also consider having garbage pickup at least twice a week.