Programs

methane gas,” says Katie. “And it’s not just going to create methane this year. Decades from now we will still be getting methane from things we buried in the landfill today.”

Addressing the “Ick Factor”

The City included free compostable bags inside the kitchen pails (given out with the green carts) to address “the ick factor,” says Katie. “Residents are used to bagging these materials and putting them in the garbage, so we wanted to address that…It’s really no different than the waste folks are already generating—it’s just a different container to put it in.”

Katie says other common misconceptions are that the carts are going to smell or attract rodents. Warman has a biweekly green cart program, she says, “and we chatted with them and they are not getting complaints about these sorts of things. We’ve heard from other cities, that these are common concerns going into it, but once residents have the cart, they see the value in it and those concerns usually dissipate.”

What Goes In, What Stays Out

Meat, bones, seafood, dairy, cooking oils, sauces, grease, fruits, veggies, bread, noodles, grains, baked goods, coffee grounds, paper filters and tea bags, eggs and egg shells, food soiled paper products, yard and garden waste can all be tossed into the green carts, and residents are welcome to line the bottom of their bins with newsprint.

There’s a term called “wish-cycling” where residents throw items in their recycling bins, with the hope, or “wish,” that it gets recycled. This ends up creating problems and adding costs at the sorting facilities. And it’s safe to say the City doesn’t want the same wishful thinking when it comes to compost.

What’s verboten? The City urges residents not to throw pet waste and bags, diapers and hygiene products, styrofoam or elm wood (due to Dutch elm disease) in their green bins. “While our processing will get hot enough to break down the meat, bones and dairy, it has to get that one step hotter for materials like pet waste and diapers,” says Katie. “We want to make sure that our end-use product is something that could be used safely, and by residents in their home, gardens or farms.”

Compostable plastics are also a no-no, aside from the BPI certified bags some residents may choose to line their kitchen pails with. For now, residents should consider “compostable plastic” a misnomer.

Despite the fact that your coffee pods may be labelled “compostable,” they can’t go in your green cart, says Katie. “If residents separate the pods, the coffee grounds can be composted. The remainder of the pods should be placed in the garbage.”

“The reason for that is we want to see how our processing facility works,” says Katie. “It’s much easier to add items down the line after we have had a chance to test them. It’s a new technology that will compost hotter than our current system at the compost depot, so it has the potential, but we want to make sure it’s actually capable and we don’t want to be pulling things out of the program later.” She notes the confusion that ensued when plastic bags and black plastics were removed from the City’s recycling program.

Multi-family Pilot Program

A pilot program for residents who live in multiunit buildings is also in the works. “The make up of their waste is a little bit different because there’s a lot less yard waste—it’s usually handled by a third party, like a landscape company, and they will often use our compost depots,” says Katie. The City will be testing a few different approaches with the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, including a countertop composting system used in other jurisdictions.

Saskatoon’s two compost depots remain open to residents, says Katie. “We will still have the ‘dig your own free compost’ as well as the mulch. Our intention is to continue that service so there will be lots of free compost available to our residents.”

The green cart program is estimated to divert up to 20,000 tonnes (about 3,300 garbage truck loads) of organics away from the Saskatoon landfill annually, according to the City.

Two weeks into the new green cart roll out, and Cheryl McDougall confirms that her family already sees a significant reduction in the amount of garbage they produce.

Her five-year-old daughter is learning about composting in school, so their green cart and backyard compost is an opportunity to reinforce those lessons at home. “Her teacher talks about how we all have to do our part to protect the planet, and at home, she’s seeing how we’re creating soil to grow our own vegetables.”

With any luck, Cheryl hopes her daughter's generation will look back one day and question how anyone could possibly complain about a simple green cart.

Julie Barnes