News Releases

Environment Canada forecasts a good chance of light snow and wind gusts to 50 km/h this afternoon with the current above-freezing temperatures falling to around -3 degrees. There is a possibility of flurries continuing overnight, and temperatures are expected to cool off near -14 degrees by Saturday night.

 What you can expect from us

1. Monitoring and salting high-traffic roads and priority streets, including Circle Drive and freeways.
2. Salting intersections in residential areas, on bridge decks and overpasses.
3. Even with the use of salt and sand, extra moisture from snow and freezing drizzle may cause slippery conditions during peak driving times.

 How you can help us

1. Slow down and use extra caution this afternoon and during the commute this evening.
2. Watch for blue and amber flashing lights on snow maintenance equipment. If you encounter equipment on the road, slow down, remain at least 15 metres (two-and-a-half car lengths) behind, and be ready to stop.
3. When safe to do so, drivers can report icy locations to the 24-hour Customer Service Centre at 306-975-2476 or email snow@saskatoon.ca.
4. Be in the Know About Snow! Learn more about what happens when it snows at saskatoon.ca/snow.

As road maintenance crews continue to address priority streets and high-risk intersections, the Saskatoon Fire Department warns pedestrians to proceed with caution on ice-covered sidewalks. Firefighters also remind homeowners to spread salt and sand on sidewalks around their property to prevent falls and ensure everyone has a safe holiday season.

For the past 30 years, SGI and Saskatoon Transit have partnered to offer free late night transit service on New Year’s Eve, ensuring everyone has a safe ride home. This year the service is back! SGI is once again sponsoring free rides in the evening and Saskatoon Transit has extended the free service to all day.

“Having free Transit service on New Year’s Eve removes a barrier when making decisions on how to get home after a night out,” says Jim McDonald, Director, Saskatoon Transit. “We encourage everyone to plan their route before heading out using the app called Transit.”   

Saskatoon Transit and the local taxi companies will be working together to get everyone home safe, in the most efficient way possible. Citizens are encouraged to think about using a variety of transportation modes on busy nights like New Year’s Eve. Take the bus out of the downtown or busy areas and arrange for a cab to take you the short distance home. “Riide, Comfort and United are all proud to be a part of this collaboration, connecting public and private modes of transportation to help complete first/last mile multimodal trips,” Says Carlo Triolo, General Manager, Riide.

“This collaboration helps residents celebrate the New Year responsibly by taking advantage of free transit in Saskatoon,” says Mayor Charlie Clark. “We all owe it to each other—to our family, friends, and drivers on the road—to plan a safe ride home. This service helps to make this planning easier so that we can start the New Year in a positive way.”

“Police officers will be out in full force taking advantage of new enhanced impaired driving laws to detect impaired drivers.  Making safe choices involves making a solid plan,” says Saskatoon Police Service Staff Sergeant Patrick Barbar. “Saskatoon transit is an excellent part of a plan to get home safely.”

Free bus service will be available on Monday, December 31 until 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 1. (Times may vary slightly by route).

 “There is no reason for impaired driving, especially on New Year’s Eve,” says McDonald, “We are thankful to have SGI as a partner in providing free transit service to citizens on New Year’s Eve and for the partnership with Riide, Comfort and United to provide the first/last mile parts of the journey.”

“SGI is a proud sponsor of Wing in the New Year,” said Minister responsible for SGI Joe Hargrave. “There is always a better option than driving impaired. With Wing in the New Year, the people of Saskatoon have yet another great – and free – way to get home safely on New Year’s Eve.”

This holiday season the City of Saskatoon is encouraging residents to ‘Create Memories, Not Garbage’. Residents are reminded to keep waste reduction and recycling options in mind throughout their holiday celebrations. By remembering a few of these tips during the holidays, residents can help extend the life of the Landfill and help the community move towards 70% waste diversion by 2023. 

Consider recycling holiday items by selling or giving away excess products, using reusable gift bags or recyclable boxes, purchasing gifts with less packaging, sharing and giving experiences, and planning meals to reduce kitchen waste. When sorting your holiday garbage, remember a lot of seasonal items are recyclable.

Here are some recycling tips to help keep the holiday season green:

What you can recycle

• Wrapping paper – Consider using recyclable paper or reusing old newspapers to wrap your gifts. Remember, if you can rip it, you can recycle it!  No need to remove staples or tape. If you can’t rip the paper, it goes in the garbage.
• Tin foil, foil containers and metal cookie containers – Be sure to clean all types of these containers before recycling.
• Flattened cardboard boxes and packaging – Before tossing into your blue cart or bin, remember to flatten these items to increase space for other recyclables.
• Cleaned milk and eggnog containers – A quick rinse, flatten them and they’ll be ready to be recycled. You can take them to SARCAN or put them in your blue cart or bin at home.
• Recyclable plastic containers – Have a look on the bottom of your plastic containers, if there’s a number between 1 and 7, rinse and recycle it.
• Unwanted electronics – These items can be dropped off without charge at any SARCAN depot. Visit sarcan.ca for information.

The following holiday items are not accepted in blue recycle bins: Styrofoam, ribbon and bows, plasticized gift bags, toys, Christmas trees (natural or artificial), Christmas lights, ornaments or decorations. Artificial trees can be sold or donated for re-use, or taken to the Landfill for disposal. Check saskatoon.ca/christmastree for drop-off locations for natural Christmas trees.

How can you manage space in your bins?

• Excess recycling can be dropped off at one of the City’s Recycling Depots (Lawson Heights, Lakewood, University Heights, or Meadowgreen), at the Loraas Recycle Recycling Depot or Cosmopolitan Industries Recycling Depot. To keep depot bins from filling up too quickly, please make sure boxes are flattened.
• Consider storing clean, dry recyclables until your next scheduled collection.
• Please make sure your cart lid is fully closed and your cart is out by 7am on collection day.

For more holiday waste, recyclables, collection calendar, waste wizard and disposal information, visit: www.saskatoon.ca/holiday-recycling.

In supporting the City of Saskatoon’s strategic goal of Environmental Leadership, a grant totaling $30,000 is now available to local, non-profit organizations implementing and supporting sustainable initiatives. The deadline to apply for this grant is February 15, 2019.

$10,000 of this total will be allocated specifically to projects that relate to water conservation, and NEW for 2019, $10,000 will be allocated for waste diversion.

To be eligible for this grant, organizational activities must relate to one of the following categories:

• Environmental stewardship;
• Climate change mitigation and/or adaptation;
• Water conservation;
• Waste reduction and/or diversion; and
• Environmental education and/or awareness.

For more information on the City’s Environmental Grant, visit: saskatoon.ca/envirogrant.

At its meeting yesterday, City Council carried a motion to rescind a decision made November 19, 2018 regarding the implementation of a black cart variable rate waste utility for curbside pick-up at single-family homes.   

City Council has directed the Administration to report back on other funding options for the curbside waste program.

Information on possible funding options previously considered for curbside waste can be found here.

For more information about the City’s waste diversion plan, visit saskatoon.ca/wastediversion.