Business association waiting to hear changes to city’s waste collection

On Monday, Saskatoon’s Standing Policy Committee on Environment, Utilities and Corporate Services will be discussing possible changes to how the city collects its waste.

The hope is to reduce the amount of waste going into the landfill.

One of the more popular options involves separate containers for garbage, recycling and organics.

According to Keith Moen — the executive director of the North Saskatoon Business Association — those changes could be good for businesses and the city, as long as they are done the right way.

“If it in fact leads to more efficiency and reduced long-term costs to the city and the ratepayer, then that is something that we would support. If in fact it turns out to be just the opposite, then we would take issue with that,” he said.

“So we just want to see it done in an efficient, predictable and flexible way so that the businesses can participate in the means that would be most advantageous to them.”

Moen believes the change would affect manufacturing and food processing businesses the most but he thinks that even they might not need to make too many changes from what they do now.

“I suspect these folks would be undertaking a large recyclable or diversion tactic already so I don’t think there is going to be a great deal of change to the marketplace because those that are generally the higher refuse producers are already implementing some diversion and recycling products already,” said Moen.

If approved, the proposed changes would take effect at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022.