New city plan offers residents free compost and mulch

A new City of Saskatoon plan is offering residents free compost and mulch. (Moses Woldu/CTV Saskatoon)

A new pilot project in Saskatoon allows the public to use the same finished compost and mulch used by city parks and community gardens.

“We took a hard look and said, ‘How can we make this material available to residence because they are asking for it?’” said Michelle Jelinski, City of Saskatoon senior project management engineer. “We brainstormed ideas and we’ve had feedback from customers saying, ‘I wouldn’t be opposed to shovelling on my own or getting my own material.’”

Residents can haul over 750 litres of compost — the equivalent of two black bins — free of charge. Anything more than that will cost $15.

The pilot project is a week old, and the city is seeing a large number of residents take full advantage of the program, picking up close to 76,000 litres of compost and mulch.

If successful, the city plans to expand the program to allow people to pick up fire logs and other organic materials.

Residents can pick up the finished compost and mulch from the west compost depot on Highway 7. The depot is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and will close Nov. 12.