The City of Saskatoon is going in a different direction with its green cart program after the company hired to process organics “defaulted” on the contract but the president of the company says he wants to set the record straight. Last week, the City announced Green Prairie Environmental (GPE) had defaulted on its green cart processing contract, and that the city would move forward in a short-term contract with Loraas. “This notice of a default came as a complete surprise to us,” said Richard Weldon, president of Green Prairie Environmental. “We’ve been meeting and discussing with the City of Saskatoon almost weekly for the last number of months since May.” In 2020, the city entered a contract with GPE with a key detail in the agreement being the company’s ability to secure a permanent site to process organics. GPE planned to open its facility in Corman Park, but an April decision by the rural municipality at a public meeting to deny the project forced them to consider alternatives. “We had bought the landfill from Corman Park,” said Weldon. “So it was already approved for all the uses we needed. But for some reason, they decided that we needed some additional approval.” GPE says it proposed two short-term solutions of using the city’s West Compost Depot and the Saskatoon Regional Waste Management Centre, which the city refused. “We said can we go to your West composting site that used to be there? They said oh, absolutely not. That’ll never be that’ll never be possible,” said Weldon. “If you notice in the press release, those two options are back on the table again, even though they refused them for us.” Weldon says GPE negotiated with the city while investing hundreds of thousands of dollars to prepare a site beside the Saskatoon landfill. He says the next step in the process was a Public Meeting for approval. “They just left us at the table,” said Weldon. “How can we get a permit if you’re not allowing us to get the permit by having a public meeting? Because that’s all that was needed with the Ministry of Environment.” As a result, the city has entered a short-term contract with Loraas, and it says the financial difference in contracts lies upon GPE. “The negotiation that was done with Loraas wasn’t done with our approval, wasn’t done with our knowledge, and wasn’t done with our understanding,” said Weldon. “So if they want to pursue a more expensive option for them, that’s their prerogative but it shouldn’t be up to us to pay for it.” The city declined an interview, but issued the following statement from the General Manager of Utilities and Environment: “The City has declared GPE in default under the contract. The City does not agree with GPE’s version of events, but the contractual dispute is ongoing and to protect its position, the City declines to discuss specifics.” An administration report is being presented at Council’s Standing Policy Committee on Environment, Utilities and Corporate Services meeting on Wednesday.
