Green Cart Program

Beginning May 2023, $6.73 monthly per roll out cart for Green Cart organics collection will be applied to your City utility bill. Every household with a roll out black and blue cart will be part of the new program. 

For those who already have a Green Cart please continue using the cart through the winter months as you have been.

The organic waste that is currently accepted includes the following:

The new city-wide Curbside Organics Program will be an increase in service from the previous subscription-based program, accepting more food and yard waste.

The additional organic waste that will be accepted, includes the following: 

This list of accepted items applies to those who already have a Green Cart. This list will be updated with the city-wide Curbside Organics program in spring 2023.

Please place your yard and food waste loose into your Green Cart

ACCEPTED yard waste:

• Leaves
• Grass clippings
• Garden refuse (e.g. plant tops and clippings, flowers, stalks, fallen fruit)
• Twigs (smaller than your finger in diameter, and no longer than an arm’s length)
• Weeds
• Wood chips and bark mulch
• Fallen elm leaves
• Pine and spruce cones and needles
• Household plants, including soil

ACCEPTED food and other waste:

• Fruits and vegetables (cooked or raw, including peels and pits)
• Bread, noodles, beans, rice, grains
• Nuts, seeds
• Eggs, eggshells
• Coffee grounds
• Paper teabags, paper coffee filters
• Dry baking ingredients, herbs, spices
• Food-soiled paper napkins, paper towel, and kleenex (must be free of contaminants, such as household cleaners and grease)
• Food-soiled paper plates, cups, and muffin wrappers (un-waxed and un-plasticized)
• Food-soiled pizza boxes and cardboard (Note: clean pizza boxes and cardboard go into your Blue Cart to be recycled)
• Wooden stir sticks, chop sticks, popsicle sticks, toothpicks
• Newsprint, cardboard, and paper bags (to wrap food and line containers)

This list of unaccepted items applies to those who already have a Green Cart. This list will be updated with the city-wide Curbside Organics program in spring 2023.

The following materials are not accepted in the Green Cart program and will not be picked up:

Yard materials that are NOT accepted:

• Any bagged material
• Soil & dirt
• Elm wood
• Treated and untreated lumber and wood products
• Tree branches (larger than your finger in diameter and longer than an arm’s length)
• Logs and stumps
• Rocks
• Sod
• Drywall

Food and other materials that are NOT accepted:

• Any bagged material
• Plastic, of any type (including compostable plastic, biodegradable plastic, and plastic bags)
• Packaging and wrappers, of all types
• Dairy products, including milk, yogurt and cheese
• Fats, cooking oils, and grease
• Salad dressing, mayonnaise, gravy, and sauces
• Meat, seafood, and bones
• Butcher’s meat wrap
• Chips, candy, baked goods
• Mixed table scraps
• Liquids
• Beverage containers
• Pet waste, pet food, animal bedding, animal carcasses
• Waxed paper
• Cigarette butts, tobacco, ashes
• Fireplace and BBQ ashes, matches
• Corks (from wine bottles, etc.)
• Gum
• Q-tips, cotton balls, cosmetics, make-up removal pads, dental floss
• Diapers, baby wipes, feminine hygiene products
• Medicines and pharmaceuticals
• Wax- and plastic-coated paper products
• Styrofoam
• Clothing, textiles
• Rope, rags
• Dryer lint, floor sweepings, vacuum bags, vacuum contents
• Glass
• Metal 

Starting in May all Green Carts are collected from the same location as your Blue and Black Carts.

Cart Usage, Placement, and Maintenance
Cart Placement Tips and Illustrations

• Place your yard and food waste loose into your Green Cart
• Ensure the cart is placed out for collection prior to 7:00 a.m. on your scheduled pickup day.
• Ensure there is at least 1.2 meters (4 feet) of clearance around all sides of the cart.
• Between collections, store your Green Cart in a secure, shaded location on your property.
• Please do not write your address on your Green Cart.

Here are some simple tips to properly and easily dispose of your yard and food waste.

Indoors:

• Collect food waste in your provided kitchen pail or a small container with a lid. Store it inside a cupboard, underneath your sink, or outside your backdoor. Ensure the lid is fully closed.
• Line your container with newspaper or a paper bag, or simply wrap food in a napkin. Please do not use waxed, plastic, plastic-lined, or any non-certified BPI compostable bags.
• Drain excess liquids, excluding cooking oil, from your food waste before placing in the container.
• Freeze smelly food waste until collection day.
• Empty the contents of your kitchen pail or container into your Green Cart as frequently as necessary.
• Rinse your kitchen pail or container after emptying it into your Green Cart.
• Sprinkle baking soda in the bottom of your container to reduce odours and deter insects.
• Catch fruit flies in a bowl of vinegar covered with plastic wrap, pricked with a few holes.

Outdoors:

• Set your cart out for every collection, even if it isn't full.
• Store your Green Cart outside in a shady, flat, and ventilated location.
• Keep the lid fully closed.
• Line your cart with newsprint, cardboard, or yard waste before adding food waste.
• Covering food waste with yard waste will help prevent odours and insects. Keep the contents of your cart dry by alternating a layer of food waste with a layer of dried leaves, grass clippings, or dead plants.
• Let leaves, grass, and yard waste dry out first before placing them into your cart.
• Rinse your bin occasionally with a garden hose. Pour contents onto grass or gravel (not down the storm drain).
• Sprinkle a small amount of vinegar or baking soda into your Green Cart to reduce odour.
• If animals chew on the bin, rub peppermint oil, hot sauce, cayenne, or chili powder on the chewed spot to deter other animals.

A transitional subsidy of $100 annually will be available beginning in 2024 to help minimize the financial impact on low-income households. This subsidy will be available to eligible low-income households who have a City utility account in their name. The waste utility subsidy will be available until the implementation of a broader Universal Low Income Subsidy program planned for approximately 2027. More details to come.

Odours are produced when materials are too wet and/or don’t have enough access to oxygen. Pests, such as insects, are attracted to food waste, so keeping these materials covered and enclosed is very important.

Reducing Food Waste Odour Indoors:

• Put your food waste in the provided kitchen pail or a small container with a lid.
• Drain liquids from your food waste before putting it in your kitchen container.
• Line your kitchen pail or container with newspaper or wrap food in a napkin to reduce moisture.
• Consider freezing food waste until the day before your Green Cart is collected.

Reducing Odours and Pests in Your Green Cart:

• Keep the contents of your cart dry by alternating a layer of food waste with a layer of dried leaves, grass clippings, or dead plants.
• Keep food waste covered with yard waste.
• Let leaves, grass and yard waste dry out first before placing them into your cart (consider storing yard waste in a dry area of your yard between collection days).
• Store your Green Cart in a shady, flat and ventilated location. Keep the lid fully closed.
• Rinse your Green Cart occasionally with a garden hose. Pour contents onto your grass or gravel (never down the storm drain). Sprinkle a small amount of vinegar or baking soda into your Green Cart to reduce odour.
• Place the correct materials in your cart.
• Set out your Green Cart for every collection, even if it is not full. This will prevent the build-up of material and could help prevent moisture and odours.
• Make sure there are no holes in your Green Cart.

If your Green Cart is filling up before collection day, try following these simple tips:

Tips to reduce yard waste:

• Leave grass clippings on your lawn after mowing, also known as “grasscycling.”
• Work leaves directly into your garden soil or use them as mulch on your garden beds.
• Take excess yard waste to one of the City's compost depots free of charge.
• Compost excess yard waste using a backyard composting system.

Tips to reduce food waste:

• Get creative – look for recipes that use foods you already have on hand.
• Shop smart – don’t buy more food than you can eat before it starts to spoil.
• Store foods correctly so they last longer.
• Look in your fridge, freezer and pantry before grocery shopping so you only buy what you need.
• Create an “Almost Expired” section in your fridge and pantry to store items that have to be used quickly. Start your meal planning by looking through these items.
• Freeze foods for later use.
• Keep track of what you throw away to get an idea of how much food you could be saving.
• Compost excess food waste at home, by using a backyard or indoor composting system.

Green Cart still filling up before collection day? Order a second cart for an additional fee.

Here are some tips to prevent and deal with content that may have become stuck or frozen in your Green Cart:

• Line your cart with crumpled-up newspaper, paper bags, or soiled pizza boxes.
• Put grass clippings in paper yard waste bags.
• Layer wet organics (food waste, grass clippings) with dry organics (leaves, newspaper, soiled pizza boxes).
• Strain excess liquid from soups and sauces with a strainer and only place the solid pieces in the cart.
• Wrap food with high moisture content in soiled boxes or newspapers.
• Don't force the contents of the cart down.
• Use the end of a broomstick to stir and loosen up material at the bottom of the cart.
• If possible, give you cart a shake prior to rolling it out to dislodge any frozen contents.
• If you choose to use your Green Cart during the winter, consider leaving your food waste in another container to allow it to freeze before putting it in your Green Cart.

Yard and food waste aren’t garbage – they’re a plant’s best friend!

When these materials are composted, the end product (compost) can be added to lawns, flowerbeds, vegetable gardens, and house plants to add nutrients to the soil, conserve water, and reduce weeds, pests and diseases.

What happens to the yard and food waste I put in my Green Cart?

Compost from your Green Cart has been used to keep Saskatoon parks, community gardens, and other public green spaces healthy and beautiful. As more compost is generated, more uses and opportunities to sell the material will become possible. As we transition to the city-wide curbside organics program, compost from your Green Cart may be used in other ways.

What are “organics”, and what percentage of my waste do they represent?

Organics are materials that break down naturally and can be turned into compost, such as yard and food waste. Options such as the Green Cart program and backyard composting allow residents to separate their organics from their garbage so these materials can be composted.

Why is it important to divert yard and food waste from the landfill?

Diverting yard and food waste from the landfill extends the life of the landfill by saving space. Approximately 57%, or 30,000 tonnes, of food and yard waste are collected in Saskatoon’s black carts every year.  By removing this organic material from the landfill we save valuable air space deferring or eliminating our need to replace our landfill. As of 2010, each cubic meter of airspace at the Landfill has a value of $90.

Diverting yard and food waste from the landfill reduces greenhouse gases. - Methane is produced when materials decompose in a landfill. When these materials end up in the landfill, they are mixed with garbage and quickly buried in an airless environment. But because organics need air to decompose properly, they do not turn into soil or compost. Instead, they release methane gas and create garbage fluids, called leachate. Leachate can contaminate surrounding water/land and needs to be managed under strict environmental regulations. Methane is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide and contributes to climate change. Although some of the methane is captured as landfill gas and converted into energy, the system at our landfill only captures approx. 70% of the methane produced by 1/3 of the landfill, while the remainder is released into our atmosphere.

Did you know? Some organic materials sent to the landfill can still be identified decades after disposal because they don't break down properly.

How will the city-wide curbside organics collection program increase waste diversion?

A city-wide curbside residential organics program with year-round collection of food and yard waste has the potential to increase waste diversion by 15,000 to 22,000 tonnes per year (8-12%) which contributes to the City’s waste diversion target of 70% from the Saskatoon Landfill. By keeping organic waste out of the landfill, we can create a valuable product, reduce, the strain on garbage collection system and increase the lifespan of the landfill, and avoid the creation of harmful greenhouse gases and leachate.

• Curbside Organics Program: Cart Size (April 25, 2022)
• Curbside Organics Program Update (January 10, 2022)
• Curbside Organics Program Waste Bylaw Change (December 2021)
• Waste Utility, Timing, Phase-In and Affordability Options (October 2021)
• Curbside Organics Collection: Affordability Threshold and Triple Bottom Line Approach to Tendering Collections (August 2021)
• Solid Waste Program Funding Models: Implications and Considerations for Change (August 2021)
• Curbside Organics Collection Options (June 2021) / June 16 News Release
• Curbside Organics Collection (May 2021)
• Curbside Organics Processing Contract (September 2020)
• Curbside Organics and Waste Funding Options (March 2019)
• Curbside Waste and Orgranics Programs Updates (January 2019)
• Additional Information on Waste and Organics (November 2018)
• Additional Information on Waste and Organics Cost and Funding (October 2018)
• Organics Program Update (August 2018)
• Recommended Changes to Waste Management in Saskatoon (June 2018)
  • Changes to Waste Management in Saskatoon: Engagement Results (June 2018)