Compost collected in Fort Saskatchewan will be heading to a couple of different locations after the original site was ordered to cease operations.
CleanIt GreenIt, a compost company based in Edmonton, has been in a partnership with the city since 2018 to handle the community’s compost waste. Last year, the company was ordered by Alberta Environment and Parks to cease operations by June 2022 after being subject to over 800 complaints about a foul odour coming from their facility.
Further investigations into their facility also found multiple environmental concerns.
This has prompted Fort Saskatchewan to find a new location for its compost. Sadie Miller, Waste Program Supervisor for the city, says the closure did not come as a surprise to them.
“We were anticipating this closure and proactively arranged to secure other processing locations for Fort Saskatchewan’s green cart material,” said Miller. “Our resident’s organics are currently being taken to Roseridge Waste Management’s composting facility just outside of Morinville as well as to a new composting and regenerative farming facility near Westlock.”
Nothing will change for residents when it comes to dealing with their waste. Miller says green cart waste will be handled pretty much the same, just transported to new locations.
“Both facilities actually use the exact same process that CleanIt GreenIt does,” said Miller. “The facilities are still able to accept and process the same list of products.”
A decision on GreenIt CleanIt’s fate is expected to be made in November by the province. Miller added that the city won’t be automatically going back if they are allowed to reopen.
“It all depends on what facility is able to offer us the most competitive disposal rate. We will go through that procurement process to find an appropriate facility.”
“It might be CleanIt GreenIt, we might stay with Roseridge and that Westlock facility. There is a lot of talk about additional facilities coming online in the next couple of years as well. We’re definitely going to have a lot of options.”
Until that process gets underway the plan remains Roseridge and Westlock as the compost locations for Fort Saskatchewan.