The City of Saskatoon has enacted its contingency plan to deal with a wrinkle in their mandatory organics program.

The City says based on a prior verbal agreement, Loraas has finalized an agreement to accept organic waste materials at its facility which is located north of Saskatoon in the RM of Corman Park.

The contingency plan was put in motion after the RM of Corman Park denied a discretionary use application for Green Prairie Environmental to provide the same service in the RM of Corman Park. GPE had intended to compost organic waste from Saskatoon’s green cart initiative at the same location as the landfill, previously owned and operated by the RM, which GPE now operates.

Angela Gardiner, General Manager of Utilities and Environment said in a Thursday news release that this is on an interim basis as they work with GPE “to confirm alternate plans to fulfill their requirements under the contract.” She also stresses that GPE foots the bill for any extra cost of the contingency plan, over and above the already pre-set amount every Saskatoon homeowner has to pay, for what has become a city utility rather than part of property taxes.

Other things residents need to know:

• With the materials going to Loraas, there is no change to the type of materials that will be accepted and therefore, this plan is still in alignment to meet the City’s waste diversion targets.
• All eligible households will have their green carts by the end of this week
• City-wide green cart collection will begin next Monday, May 1 for every household that has rollout garbage and recycling carts