YORKTON - A pilot project to collect organic materials at curbsides announced to Yorkton Council in December has now launched.
The new brown bins “were deployed last week, (April 10-15),” said Lyndon Hicks – Solid Waste and Environmental Programs Manager, with the city.
However, only 400 homes received bins for the seasonal pilot. Hicks said the bins were distributed to single family units in areas of the city with regular bin pick-ups on Thursday and Friday.
The pilot project will operate until Nov. 3.
Accepted products will include leaves, grass clippings, garden waste, and household food waste (“scrape the plate”).
“Scrape the plate” is an easy to understand approach which will hopefully result in reduced contamination. Simply put, if it can be eaten, grown or composted, it can be disposed of in the organic cart.
It will exclude diapers, tree branches, plastic packaging or plastic bags.
The pilot project is in response to data showing organic material is a major element of refuse going to the city landfill.
Environmental Services evaluated the programs and services they offer and Solid Waste Management is one of these programs, explained Hicks to Council in December.
“As part of this evaluation a trend in landfill tonnage volumes has been observed. From 2011 to 2021 the city has observed a 57 per cent increase of in-city refuse during the months of May to October relative to the rest of the year,” he explained to Council.
During the summer of 2022 multiple waste audits were completed of in-city refuse which found that organic material (yard and food waste) made up 52 per cent of the total refuse by weight, Hicks told Yorkton This Week.
The trend is of concern for three main reasons, which are factored into the current pilot project;
* The material is taking up valuable space in a landfill cell which has a replacement cost of approximately $5 million dollars.
* Methane is produced when organic materials decompose in a landfill. Without oxygen, decomposition happens anaerobically which means that methane is produced. Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide and contributes to climate change.
* With proper management organics can be turned into compost which is a usable product.
Hicks said ultimately the organic compost will be used to ‘cap’ the older landfill cell theycity has been told it will need to decommission by regulatory bodies within the next few years.
A residential refuse survey was conducted in the spring of 2021 with questions pertaining to a potential organics program. Of the respondents, 64 per cent voted in favour of an organics collection program with an additional 26 per cent responding ‘maybe depending on cost’, Hicks told Council.
For those not in a ‘brown bin’ area for the pilot project the city offers a free yard waste organics drop off service at two locations within the city (RecyclAbility Enterprises and the city Landfill).
The approved pilot project will include operation from April 13 to Nov. 3, with 400 homes in two areas of the city involved.
