News Releases

The City of Saskatoon has a new Waste bylaw. On Monday, October 31, City Council approved Bylaw No. 9844, The Waste Bylaw, 2022, which now has replaced the previous Bylaw No. 8310, The Waste Bylaw, 2004.

“In anticipation of new waste diversion programs beginning in 2023, the City decided to update the structure and content of our Waste Bylaw, which had been first approved 18 years ago and had undergone many amendments,” says Brendan Lemke, Director of Water and Waste Operations. “The new bylaw prepares us for the curbside organics program and Recovery Park a diversion depot co-located at the landfill, which are both set to launch in 2023.”

The changes in the new bylaw include:

•    New requirements to place recyclable and organic materials into the appropriate collection containers
•    Guidelines for home composting systems, including requiring that they be located within property lines
•    Standards for new multi-unit residential buildings to ensure City waste collection can be completed
•    New standards for waste containers used for construction activities
•    Restrictions on the composting of elm wood waste in any City program to help protect Saskatoon’s urban forest from Dutch elm disease.

“The Waste Bylaw keeps our community safe and our environment clean by instructing our community on how to properly store, sort, divert, and dispose of solid waste,” says Lemke. “The City will continue to take an education-first approach with our Waste bylaw to help make sure residents and businesses are aware of what is required and make a change before following through on enforcement.” 

For more information on the City’s Waste Bylaw, visit www.saskatoon.ca/content/bylaw-9844-waste-bylaw-2022.

A survey conducted on behalf of the City of Saskatoon by Forum Research between February and April 2022 indicates that significantly more residents claim climate change is an important environmental challenge that must be addressed—an increase of 41% from five years ago.

When asked to identify the main environmental issues facing the City, residents are most likely to focus on climate change related concerns such as extreme weather and global warming, as well as waste reduction issues like waste management and city cleanliness. The survey showed that three in five respondents raised these issues, with 50% of respondents saying they believe climate change is negatively affecting Saskatoon today.

The survey also showed residents are most concerned with how climate-related issues will affect them financially, with more than 80% of respondents saying they are very or somewhat concerned about how climate change will affect the cost of food, energy, public services, and insurance.

“The good news is, the City has been working on greenhouse gas emission reductions and waste diversion initiatives for some time now,” says Jeanna South, Director of Sustainability. “The City has also been working on several implementation plans related to waste reduction, aggressive emission reduction targets, climate action and resilience. We are focused on finding ways to make our operations more sustainable and environmentally friendly, with a focus on high-impact activities.”

The City’s Climate Action Plan: Progress Report 2021 will be presented to the Standing Policy Committee on Environment, Utilities and Corporate Services on November 7. The report tallies the progress that has been made on the Climate Action Plan, which includes The Low Emissions Community Plan and the Corporate Climate Adaptation Strategy. 

The City has committed to reducing emissions by 80% below the 2014 baseline by 2050 for both the community and the City’s own operations and has set an interim target of 15% reduction for the community and 40% reduction for the City by 2023.

2022 Environmental Awareness: Resident Survey can be found at Saskatoon.ca/climate

Climate Action Plan: Progress Report 2021 can be found at Saskatoon.ca/climate

A report headed to the Standing Policy Committee on Environment, Utilities and Corporate Services outlines progress that the City of Saskatoon (City) has made toward greater sustainability and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Climate Action Plan: Progress Report 2021 (2021 Progress Report) will be presented to the committee on November 7. The report tallies the progress that has been made on the Climate Action Plan, which includes The Low Emissions Community Plan (LEC Plan) and the Corporate Climate Adaptation Strategy. 

The City has committed to reducing emissions by 80% below the 2014 baseline by 2050 for both the community and the City’s own operations and has set an interim target of 15% reduction for the community and 40% reduction for the City by 2023.

In 2021, Saskatoon emitted 3,509,600 tonnes of CO₂e, which is a 9% reduction from the 2014 baseline of 3,852,200. Saskatoon’s per capita emissions decreased by 20% since 2014 at 12.4 tonnes of CO₂e per person (down from 15.6 per person in 2014). Reductions were seen in all sectors except Agriculture. Emissions from the City’s own operations decreased by 3% (from 225,000 in 2014 to 217,800 in 2021) with most reductions seen in the Buildings and Streetlighting sectors.

“The good news is, our emissions are trending downwards,” says Director of Sustainability Jeanna South. “Our goals are aggressive because they have to be. Climate change is happening, and we need to adapt our actions and mitigate potential damage quickly. We no longer have the option of taking our time. Our actions at the City of Saskatoon set the tone for the rest of the community, and we have put careful thought into our goals and have detailed plans for how to achieve each one of them.”

The City has progressed 26 of the 40 Actions outlined in the LEC Plan and 18 of the 30 Actions in the Corporate Climate Adaptation Strategy.  One area of progress that is also a focus of the November 7 Committee meeting is energy generation, with 10/12 actions on track.  Alternative Currents is an implementation plan for Saskatoon’s energy transition and will also be discussed at the Committee meeting.

Alternative Currents provides an implementation plan that is founded in the LEC Plan which establishes the City’s framework for becoming completely powered by renewable and/or low-emissions energy, including investments in local energy generation facilities (solar photovoltaics, hydropower, and district energy) through 12 actions. Alternative Currents provides a phased implementation plan for progressing these actions over the next 10 years. 

“Fossil fuels are increasingly costly, and we cannot control for that. What we can do is look at ways to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels so that we insulate the City budget and the mill rate from this variable to some degree,” comments Jeanna South.

Specific initiatives from Alternative Currents that help progress corporate climate action targets include the installation of solar PV on municipal rooftops and land, the expansion of landfill gas capture from the Saskatoon Landfill, renewable energy procurement, residential rebates and reviewing solar PV access and orientation to encourage resident self-generation. Each action in the implementation plan will be brought forward separately for funding approval by Mayor and Council before further work progresses.

Reports available:

The City’s Climate Action Plan: Progress Report 2021 can be found at Saskatoon.ca/climatechange

Alternative Currents: An Implementation Plan for Saskatoon’s Renewable and Low-Emission Energy Transition can be found at Saskatoon.ca/renewablenergy

From November 1, 2022, through October 31, 2023, the City will be piloting a new parking program for Veterans that will allow Saskatchewan Veterans with registered Veteran plates issued by SGI to park free of charge in Saskatoon's pay parking zones within the posted time limits.

”Through community engagement and research, it was found that amendments to the existing program could be made to provide a simplified and improved process for veteran parking similar to other Saskatchewan cities that are offering Veteran parking programs” says Matt Grazier, Director of Community Standards with the City of Saskatoon, “This is a pilot program that we are pleased to offer as a small ‘thank you’ to Saskatchewan Veterans for their service to our city, province, and country.”

This initiative is part of a one-year pilot project exploring the impacts of this program on parking supply and turnover in pay parking zones. At the end of the pilot project, City Administration and City Council will review the impacts and decide whether to continue the program beyond the pilot’s end date.

For more information, visit saskatoon.ca/veteranparking.

Another construction season has drawn to a close and with City Council’s annual $64 million investment, City and contractor crews have again improved several kilometres of roadways and sidewalks and replaced water mains and service connections in historic neighbourhoods.

A major rehabilitation project on Circle Drive North involved rebuilding severely deteriorated curbs and medians between Alberta Avenue and Millar Avenue. The east bound lanes were also repaved. It’s just one of many high traffic areas of Saskatoon to receive major improvements this year.

“We’ll return in the spring of 2023 to resurface the westbound lanes,” says General Manager of Transportation and Construction, Terry Schmidt. “This was our plan from the beginning of the construction season because we wanted to avoid major traffic tie ups and restrictions to business access points on this section of Circle Drive over such an extended continuous timeframe.”

Other major projects included intersection resurfacing and adding a right-hand turning lane on Warman Road southbound onto 33^rd Street, rehabilitating the Spadina Crescent Bridge, repaving the Attridge Drive overpass at Circle Drive, and the continuation of water main replacement projects in several neighbourhoods. Schmidt says approximately 24 kilometres of water mains and sanitary sewer mains were replaced or rehabilitated in 2022, which is about the distance from Downtown Saskatoon to Warman.

“We truly appreciate the patience of residents in neighbourhoods where water main replacements took place,” Schmidt says. “In some areas, we ran into unexpected circumstances which caused delays. The water main replacement program will continue next year.

Also in 2023, construction will have an impact to commuters using the nearly 40-year-old Circle Drive North Bridge. One side will accommodate two-way traffic while the other side is rehabilitated. The pedestrian bridge underneath will not be affected. Several more construction projects will be planned over the upcoming winter months.

Sidewalks are also a major focus every summer with City departments working collaboratively to make significant improvements to the management and execution of the Sidewalk Repair Program. In 2022, crews repaired or rehabilitated approximately 59 kilometers of sidewalks and curbs.

For more 2022 construction highlights, please visit saskatoon.ca/construction.