I learned to compost because I couldn’t stomach the idea of putting kitchen scraps and leaves in the garbage. While I enjoyed watching the process and discovering which things break down easily and which don’t, I didn’t have a garden (too much shade and a lost quack grass battle) to absorb the finished product. So, when Saskatoon offered a curbside program for organics, I abandoned my home compost.
I could have kept on composting. If I had had a garden, I likely would have. But the green cart was an easier way for me to keep food and yard waste out of landfill.
Keeping organics out of landfills is a worthy goal. Reducing methane emissions, decreasing groundwater contamination, and conserving landfill space are all good things. We NEED to work on keeping organics out of landfills.
But composting for waste diversion alone is more of a struggle than doing it because your garden needs the finished compost. This is why we advise communities who want to promote home composting to start with the gardeners. Their motivation is different – they value the end product. It is useful to them.
SWRC has close to 200 composting programs listed on our Waste Reduction Hub. Most are seasonal, most accept only yard & garden materials, and many are drop off. Occasionally (it’s been a while), we check in with communities about what they do with the end product. I’m gonna say the most common response is “Nothing.” Smaller communities pile yard waste up and leave it. Some process it into compost and then leave it. Others use it for internal projects. A few offer it to residents.
Contrast this “hmm, I guess we should do something with it eventually” approach to that of someone who needs the compost. The farm that will be highlighted in our upcoming compost webinar produces 500-800 tonnes of compost every year and uses it all on their own land, a mix of certified organic and conventional. It’s worth doing for them because the finished compost serves a purpose.
When compost is treated as a byproduct of waste diversion, it behaves like one. It accumulates. It becomes someone else’s problem to manage. When compost is treated as a product in and of itself, everything changes. There is a reason to get the recipe right. There is a reason to manage contamination. There is a reason to invest in processing. There is a reason to move it, use it, even compete for it.
So where is Saskatchewan’s “garden?”
In some places, it’s literal—market gardens, farms, landscaping businesses, and residents who will line up for finished compost if it’s high quality and accessible. In others, it might be land reclamation projects, municipal soil improvement, or partnerships that don’t yet exist.
But in too many communities, that end use is still an afterthought.
If we want organics diversion to stick, we need to start designing programs backwards from the end product. Who is going to use this material? What quality do they need? How will it get to them? What would make it worth their while?
Because the hard truth is this: diversion on its own is a weak motivator. It relies on ongoing effort, funding, and attention without creating much in return. Value, on the other hand, sustains itself.
We don’t just need more composting programs. We need more reasons to compost.
And until we can answer “where’s your garden?”, we’re only solving half the problem.
