Curbside Food and Yard Waste Service Coming to Regina

After a successful pilot, City Council has approved a city-wide curbside food and yard waste service to be rolled out in fall 2023. 

“This is a very exciting time for the Regina residents and a big step forward to becoming a more sustainable city,” says Kurtis Doney, Director of Water, Waste and Environment. “The City used data and feedback from our pilot participants to build a food and yard waste service specific to the needs of Regina residents. The city-wide service will save landfill space, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the material collected will be processed to create a useable product.” 

Here’s a look at what residents can expect in 2023: 

• A 240-litre green cart will be used to collect the material – this is two-thirds the size of the blue carts that residents have today
• All food scraps, including meat, bones, dairy and greases, yard waste and soiled paper (paper towel, cardboard and tissues) can go into the green cartwhich will divert roughly 50 per cent of the waste that is currently going into the garbage in Regina
• Residents can use compostable bags
• Green carts will be collected weekly between April and October and biweekly between November and March; garbage will be collected biweekly year-round

Solid waste services can be funded through property tax, user fees or a combination of both. A report will go to City Council in Q2 2022 to determine the funding model to accompany the three services. Today, garbage is paid through property tax, and the recycling service is paid through a user fee. 

This new service is part of the City’s long-term solid waste management plan, Waste Plan Regina, to send less waste to the landfill and reach the 65 per cent residential diversion target.  A year-round collection of green carts has potential to increase residential diversion to over     50 per cent as shown in the pilot. The volume of waste disposed at the landfill is expected to decrease by approximately 24,000 tonnes per year, eliminating 10,820 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions and extending the life of the City’s landfill. 

Pilot participants helped lead the way in preparing for this new service. Green carts will continue to be collected from pilot households through to city-wide rollout with material being processed at a small composting site at the landfill. 

Learn more at Regina.ca/waste.