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The City of Regina has found a temporary solution to its composting situation.
The city’s compost material was to go to a facility to be built near Pilot Butte, but people in the town raised concerns about the facility’s location. The RM of Edenwold also said it would re-examine the construction at the site.
As well, the contractor building the facility confirmed it wouldn’t be ready for the launch of the program on Sept. 4.
On Tuesday, the city laid out its plan for the material. Kurtis Doney, Regina’s acting executive director of citizen services, said it will be temporarily stored at the landfill until a permanent facility is built.
“The city has expanded the area at our pilot compost site to allow for the city’s contractor, EverGen, to set up a temporary full-scale compost operation at the landfill,” Doney said during a media conference at City Hall. “The pilot compost site is storing the collected material while EverGen completes the operation setup.”
The organic waste collected from the city’s food and yard waste program will be processed by EverGen using a composting process where the material is received in bunkers and then shredded.
EverGen will add moisture to the piles and build aerated piles for composting. Following the preparation process, the waste will be stored on site for a curing phase until a final screening and testing can be completed. Doney said the program will have significant environmental benefits.
Annually, the city expects to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10,800 tons and divert up to 24,000 tons of waste from the landfill, Doney said. He added that in addition to the environmental benefits, high-quality compost will be given to residents each spring for their gardens and flower beds.
Approximately 67,000 green carts were delivered around the city as part of the program. In its first week of operation, the city took in a total of 425 tons of waste while also reducing garbage cart waste by 53 per cent.
When asked how the new program will apply to multi-family properties, Doney said those properties are under different regulations. They’re to have green carts by July 1, 2024.
As part of the new program, residents will have the option to receive a portion of the collected compost in the spring. Doney said the total amount of compost the city would distribute among residents would fit in a single-car garage.
“It’s similar to the compost we’ve had in past years where we provided it to residents, and so if there is a huge demand, obviously we can look at supplementing that in the future,” said Doney.
With the new program comes a new schedule. The city’s new green carts will be picked up weekly between April and October and biweekly between November and March, with regular garbage being collected biweekly year-round.
“We’re really encouraging everyone to use the waste app,” Doney said. “We’ve seen a huge uptick in the number of residents downloading that app to figure out what day to put out your green cart, brown cart, and blue cart.”
Fee structure changing
As of Jan. 1, garbage collection costs will no longer be on residents’ taxes but will be on their utility bill labelled as a curbside waste fee.
The new user fee will be based on the resident’s selected garbage cart size.
The annual fee per household for the pickup of all three carts will be $16.12 per month for a 240-litre garbage cart (for a total of $193.45 per year) or $23.73 per month for a 360-litre cart (a total of $284.70 per year). The fee also includes the 360L recycling bin and the 240L food and yard waste cart.
People who trade in their old garbage carts for a smaller version will have their original carts recycled or reused based on their condition.
