It's in the can. Five Okanagan regional districts have decided to replace manual garbage collection with an automated collection service, compliments of OK Environmental Services.

It's a system the Regional Waste Reduction Office says will save everyone money.

Starting in the spring of 2009, household garbage collection in the Lake Country District, Regional District, City of Kelowna, District of Peachland and Westside District Municipality, will receive large bins to curb waste in.

Homes will be supplied with three, wheeled carts, one for garbage, a larger one for recycling and another for yard waste.

The smallest will be the size of one and a half large garbage bags, the largest about the size of four large yard waste bags.

Garbage trucks will be fitted with a mechanical arm to lift the containers, cutting down the need for employees.

“We’re really excited to introduce this program in partnership with all the communities within the Regional District,” says Lake Country Mayor James Baker. “We work together on many initiatives but this is one of the biggest inter-regional programs we’ve collaborated on.”

"By working together, the region was able to provide an economy of scale so the contractor could maximize equipment and labour efficiencies and pass the savings on to ratepayers.”

One of the reasons given in favour of the new system by the Regional Waste Reduction Office, is the difficulty haulers are having finding and retaining employees.

“Because of this, the costs for manual collection have increased significantly over the last two years,” says Carol Suhan, Waste Reduction Manager. “This has made it the more expensive of the two options.”

The five district governments are busy trying to find a joint tender for the $12 million purchase of the carts needed for the system to work.