EPC wants options to begin compost collection in 2026

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This article was published 18/10/2023 (691 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg may attempt to bring a long-awaited curbside compost collection service to residents up to four years earlier than expected.

On Tuesday evening, council’s executive policy committee passed a motion that directs city staff to explore options to add citywide compost collection by mid-2026, pending council approval.

Last month, a report suggested it would take until 2030 to get the service in place.

“I’d love to get it going earlier … 2030 is upsetting (for a target date),” said Coun. Brian Mayes, chairman of council’s water and waste committee.

The motion specifically calls upon city staff to seek options from potential service providers on how the city could process the waste if it started collecting it as early as the second quarter of 2026.

Mayes (St. Vital) said that outreach would help determine how feasible the change would be. However, if an outdoor pad is required to process the material earlier, he said that could create new concerns.

“There (can be) odour issues with an outdoor pad and (you may not) really get the reduction in methane emissions (that you want). We need further background on that. It would certainly divert organics from the landfill,” said Mayes.

The councillor said an outdoor pad might be an option to collect compost sooner but he believes that should only serve as a possible interim step before a permanent composting facility can be built.

The effort to speed up the curbside compost collection timeline follows several years of delay. Winnipeg is one of the last large Canadian cities without a program, which it originally planned to add in 2017.

“Let’s stop dithering. Let’s decide what we want to do in a couple of years,” said Mayes.

The EPC motion would also require city staff to provide an update in June, with options that could alter collection frequency, make seasonal changes to the service or find new options to pay for it.

“We have to decide… how often we’re doing it, what we’re picking up, where it’s going, how we’re paying for it,” said Mayes.

The current plan calls for a private entity to create a compost processing facility to handle Winnipeggers’ food waste.

If council approves the initial collection proposal, each single-family residence would receive weekly compost collection and pay about $96 more in waste-diversion fees each year, once the program is in place.

Council will cast the final vote on the proposal on Oct. 26.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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