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The City of Saskatoon has “bin” picking out an interim location and company to process all of the organics from its new green carts starting on Monday.
Angela Gardiner, the city’s general manager of utilities and environment, said Loraas disposal is getting the job.
“We will be hauling materials to Loraas as an interim option, which is in a region just outside city limits,” she said.
“That is the contingency plan that the city was working on developing for the last several weeks.”
Gardiner said Loraas has an approved organics processing facility at a site north of Saskatoon that will be capable of handling all of the green cart material.
The contingency plan was needed after councillors in the RM of Corman Park voted eight-to-one on Monday to deny Green Prairie Environmental a discretionary use permit to accept and process Saskatoon’s organics waste at a site in that municipality.
Gardiner said that news came as a surprise to the city, even though the contract to GPE was awarded in the fall of 2020.
“They were under the understanding that the proper approvals were already in place and they simply needed a building permit to erect the coverall building,” Gardiner explained.
There didn’t appear to be any indication that discretionary permits were needed, according to a report from administration to the Standing Policy Committee on the Environment dated March 7.
According to an update presented to the committee, “Green Prairie Environmental (GPE) is currently in the construction stages of the organics processing facility.”
That construction was supposed to include an enclosed and negatively ventilated receiving building, an aerated composting pad, and other areas for curing, storing and processing the organic material.
The report said “GPE is confident that the facility will be ready for May 1, (and) the Administration recognizes that there is a significant risk to the organics program roll out if the facility is not able to receive material on May 1.”
Gardiner said it’s unfortunate that there’s now a “difference of opinion about the approvals between the RM of Corman Park and Green Prairie Environmental, but it is the situation that we’re in.”
The city still has a seven-year contract with GPE to process the materials from the curbside program and is trying to figure out if there’s an alternate plan the company can put into place. Gardiner maintained that the city has been working closely with GPE throughout the last three years.
“This requirement for discretionary approval was never contemplated as being required because Green Prairie Environmental, as well as the city, was under the impression that the existing lands were zoned properly and did not require this approval,” she said.
When asked why it was never contemplated, Gardiner said there was no reason for the city to believe that the proper approvals were not in place.
Gardiner said organics collection will continue as planned beginning on Monday, and all households will have their green carts delivered by the end of this week.
Any extra costs associated with the interim contingency plan will be carried by GPE and not the city.
–Editor’s Note: This story has been updated after the City of Saskatoon issued a correction on its previous statement, saying Loraas will not be collecting the organic material but will be processing it.