Green cart winter collection changes recommended

Green cart collection changes could be on the way this winter in Saskatoon.

During Tuesday’s environment, utilities and corporate services committee meeting, councillors were presented with a report from Angela Gardiner, the city’s environment and utilities general manager, outlining a variety of options. She recommended reducing collections during the winter.

“Considering all factors, the administration is recommending Option 2 be approved, which is to reduce the winter collection frequency to once every four weeks from December 1 until March 31,” she said.

That move would save the city about $162,000 per year, or 17 cents per month for every green cart. But while collections could be reduced, there may not be any adjustment to the collection fees residents are paying.

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“It is recommended that any savings be allocated to the stabilization reserve, rather than adjusting the utility rates,” Gardiner added.

If there are any extra savings, Gardiner said those could be incorporated into the 2026 rates and would be presented when council debates that multi-year budget.

While the committee agreed unanimously with the recommendations, council still has to give its final approval.

Green cart size stays: No smaller options on the table

Following an inquiry from Ward 7 Councillor Mairin Loewen on whether residents – mainly those who live in townhouses – would have the option of a smaller green cart, Brock Storey, the city’s environment operations manager, said that won’t be that option in the foreseeable future.

“Right now we aren’t recommending offering those options out, because it is still a relatively young program and we are still seeing within our waste audits that there is a large amount of food waste that we still want to capture,” he said.

According to Gardiner’s report, in the first 12 months of the program about 20,000 tonnes of organic waste was diverted away from the Saskatoon landfill. Waste diversion rates increased from 25.5 per cent to just over 33 per cent during that period.

Storey added that smaller black carts have also been a big change for many people who may begin using their green carts more.

“We really don’t want to tweak too many variables at once here,” he added.

Residents can still opt out of the green or blue cart programs and have their bins hauled away, but they’ll still have to pay the associated fees.