Compost drop-off program ‘exceeded expectations’

Winnipeg

After a year of gathering food scraps, Compost Winnipeg is making a heap of difference.

Starting in October 2024, Compost Winnipeg has operated a citywide community food waste drop-off program, whereby residents can drop off food waste for no cost at 17 locations. As a result, over 345,700 kilograms of food waste was diverted from landfills after a year.

“It very much exceeded our expectations,” said Karrie Blackburn, sales and customer service lead with Compost Winnipeg. “When planning this, we anticipated two bins per site, but quickly most graduated to five, six, or seven, or in the case of Dakota Community Centre, nine bins, and as many as two collections per week. The program was well received by Winnipeggers, and respectfully, too.”

As a result, Compost Winnipeg is looking to expand the program by offering more places for food waste to be dropped off for composting.

“This expansion is a testament to the community’s enthusiasm for the program and our commitment to making sustainable practices accessible to everyone,” Compost Winnipeg’s general manager Amanda Wolfe said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing even more residents join in as we enhance this service.”

“We have looked at the first year and assessed that there are a couple locations that are not as busy or well used, so we’re looking to shift things around a bit, and introducing four new sites, one of which is Valour Community Centre,” Blackburn said.

As of Dec. 1, the drop-off locations at Lipton Community Gardens (878 Lipton St.) and Turtle Island Neighbourhood Centre (510 King St.) are closed, with Pollock’s Hardware Co-op (1407 Main St.) replacing the Turtle Island location. New locations are in the works, as well.

“There are a few yet to be fully determined, but we’re looking at options for the downtown core and the east side of the city,” Blackburn added. “This is supposed to be something very convenient and affordable for people.”

Along with traditional composted food waste items, such as fruit and vegetable scraps, meat, fish and bones are also accepted as part of the program, as are solid fats, including butter, cooled bacon grease and meat trimmings.

“It’s basically all food waste. What we’re not accepting is BPI certified packaging,” Blackburn noted. “That said, we can still accept BPI certified compostable bags. But you don’t have to use the bag.”

Paper products such as food-soiled paper towels and napkins, paper plates, and greasy paper takeout bags and pizza boxes are also accepted.

“Pizza boxes can’t be recycled if they have food waste on them,” Blackburn noted. “They can be composted. But please cut or rip up those boxes before putting them into the bins. That ensures there will be enough space for other community members to use the bins.”

The program is expected to run until a citywide green cart curbside food waste collection program is introduced, which is expected to be in 2030.

“Winnipeggers who really want to divert their organic waste now have an opportunity to,” Blackburn said. “This has been in discussion with the city to have curbside composting, and it is coming, but when the timeline in 2030, there’s still a lot of organic waste to reduce in that time that can be diverted. People are patiently waiting, by necessity.”

Visit winnipeg.ca/foodwaste for more information.