For Immediate Release
December 9, 2009

THE SCOOP ON COMPOST
Saskatchewan Finds the Sustainable Way

Want to get to zero waste? Want to make sure that expensive new landfill lasts a good, long time? Want to create a product that improves the soil? You can't get there without some form of composting. Composting diverts waste, reduces greenhouse gases and improves the soil. It's a way to handle a third of the waste stream locally and it can be done in a low-tech low-cost way.

The Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council (SWRC) has spent the last two years initiating or streamlining compost programs for Yorkton, Meadow Lake, Rosetown, Wynyard, the Sherbrooke Community Centre (Saskatoon) and the Bruno FeedMill. The emphasis was on low-cost, long-term solutions that yielded good quality compost. Funding support for the SWRC work came from Canada's Eco-Action Fund and Saskatchewan's Green Initiative Fund.

"We've made amazing progress" says Michael Buchholzer, Director of Environmental Services for the City of Yorkton. The compost program wasn't even a twinkle in Buchholzer's eye when Yorkton city council passed a resolution to move to zero waste status by 2025. Adding a compost program to their other recycling options made sense, especially if it could be done without a big budget increase. Yorkton found ways to access and promote home-scale composting as well as do a very successful large-scale compost pilot project at their landfill site. For more details on Yorkton's composting story, click here.

Meadow Lake, one of Saskatchewan's newest cities, is also a partner in a new regional landfill. "Keeping the compostables out of the new landfill makes sense environmentally and economically" says city councilor Toby Esterby. " We helped more citizens get composting at home by offering subsidized bins in the spring of 2009. It took us a while to find the right spot for large-scale composting, but we found one, got approval and have moved forward with site preparations." For more details on Meadow Lake's composting story, click here.

Rosetown's new user-pay system for garbage has increased drop-offs at the town's compost site, operated by the Wheatland Regional Centre. "The amount of compostable material delivered to our site has doubled since the user pay system started" says Shanno Lidster, CEO of Wheatland Regional Centre. "Larry Mullen from SWRC helped make better use of our existing space and plan for the future. The town really helped by providing a new fenced site and offering their equipment and staff to turn the compost piles. It has been a challenging couple of years but the future for compost in Rosetown looks bright." For more details on Wheatland's composting story, click here.

"We're so pleased to have a compost program up and running again", says Wynyard's Mayor Sharon Armstrong. Wynyard's compost site is set up close to the community garden plots in an area that can be supervised by town staff. Most of the material is used to enrich the soil in the community garden. For more details on Wynyard's story, click here.

"Sherbrooke is home for lots of people, now we have a home composting program. Gardening is an important activity here, so composting is a natural fit" notes Patricia Roe, Public Relations and Communications Leader for Sherbrooke Community Centre. Sherbrooke worked with SWRC staff to identify ways to divert food waste from their garbage and into their composting system. Innovative ways of collecting and moving waste have been identified and put into action. For more details on Sherbrooke's composting story, click here.

Bruno Feeds approached SWRC for help with new ways of handling a grain-based residue from their processing plant. SWRC's Larry Mullen, with help from a number of research scientists, was able to identify a way to compost this material. "It was really interesting to put together our test windrow and then monitor its progress" says Bruno Feeds manager, Doug Krentz. "The technical help we received from Larry and others made a big difference in being able to move forward with this idea". More details: click here.

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 Contact Info:

SWRC: Joanne Fedyk, Executive Director
Ph: 306-931-3242; email: info@saskwastereduction.ca

Yorkton: Michael Buchholzer, Director of Environmental Services
Ph: 306-786-1774; e-mail: mbuchholzer@yorkton.ca

Meadow Lake: Rosalie Brown, City Manager
Ph: 306-236-3622 Ext 206; email: citymanager@meadowlake.ca

Rosetown: Shanno Lidster, CEO, Wheatland Regional Centre
Ph: 306-882-4257 email: wrcf@sasktel.net

Wynyard: Sharon Armstrong, Mayor
Ph: 306-554-2123 email: town.office.wynyard@sasktel.net

Sherbrooke: Patricia Roe, Public Relations & Communications Leader
Ph: 306-655-3602 email:patricia.roe@saskatoonhealthregion.ca

Bruno Feeds: Doug Krentz, Manager
Ph: 306-369-2911; email: bfproduction@sasktel.net