Public Space & Event Waste Diversion Project
City secures federal funds to support Public Space & Event Waste Diversion Pilot
Through the Food Waste Prevention and Diversion: Research and Capacity Building Fund, Environment and Climate Change Canada is contributing $150,000 in funding to support the City of Saskatoon's Public Space & Event Waste Diversion Pilot. The funding aims to support local government research and initiatives to reduce the quantity of food and other organic waste disposed in landfills. Learn more here.
Pilot Results & Reporting
The City of Saskatoon is working on ways to reduce waste and improve recycling and composting in public spaces and at events. Through the Public Space and Event Waste Diversion project, we launched pilot projects in 2025 to help people properly sort their waste when they’re out and about.
By evaluating how waste is managed in places like parks, sidewalks, transit stops, event venues and festivals, we’ll gather data to understand what works best. The results of the pilots were reported in early 2026 and will help City administration make a recommendation to City Council on next steps for waste diversion in public.
The recommendations are planned for later in 2026 and focus on places where residents sort and dispose of waste in public, including:
- Events including public and private events such as fairs, festivals and parades.
- Cityscapes including parks, sidewalks, transit stops and multi-use paths.
- Facilities with public spaces, such as event centres, leisure centres and food courts.
Why do we need to divert organic waste in public and at events?
This project aims to address a gap that remains in the Saskatoon’s organic waste reduction and diversion programming, which already includes the city-wide green cart program, regulations for the commercial sector, a multi-unit residential organics diversion pilot and the Compost Depot for public drop-off.
When landfilled, food waste does not become soil. Landfills bury waste without oxygen, so when it is broken down, it turns into leachate (garbage juice) and methane. Leachate pollutes our land and water, and methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that can escape into the atmosphere. Leachate and methane are expensive for the City to manage.
More than half of what we throw in the garbage can be composted. By diverting food waste, it can be turned into something useful – compost!
By diverting organic waste away from the landfill, we can delay or even avoid the expense of building a second landfill, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce environmental pollution.