Public hearing in Pilot Butte on Monday regarding proposed composting facility

Pilot Butte residents will be able to voice their concerns Monday night about the plan to build a composting facility just northwest of the town.

The town said in a news release that a public hearing will take place at the Pilot Butte Community Hall at 6:45 p.m. and is set to address the negative impacts of the project.

The facility would accept the waste picked up by the City of Regina’s new green bin composting program, which is expected to begin on Sept. 4.

Peggy Chorney, the mayor of Pilot Butte, said there are four main concerns: The potential for a toxic spill into the town’s water supply, increased traffic, rodents and wildlife being drawn to the town by the waste, and odour control.

“We are told there will be 30 to 60 large trucks daily bringing in the waste and dropping that off. (They would be) going to and from (the facility) on the 46 highway,” Chorney added. “The 46 highway is already an extremely busy roadway.”

The mayor said Pilot Butte will not benefit from the proposed composting facility, which would be located 1.6 kilometres from the town.

“We know waste will be sitting and … that is quite worrisome for us,” she added. “When (there’s) waste sitting, it will attract rodents and wildlife and … that close proximity, we feel, puts us at risk of them migrating into our community.”

Pilot Butte isn’t the only municipality in Canada against the idea of having a composting facility nearby.

According to Chorney, the City of Edmonton rejected renewing a facility’s permit in 2023 due to the smell.

Representatives from both the RM of Edenwold and EverGen — the company behind the proposal — will be invited to Monday night’s hearing at the Pilot Butte Community Hall.

“We’ll be itemizing our concerns and submitting them to both the RM and the company at that time,” Chorney added. “We really are advocating that they reconsider the location of this development … proposal.”

— With files from 980 CJME’s Lisa Schick