Black cart swap begins next week in Saskatoon

Saskatoon residents who requested a smaller black garbage cart by March 1 can expect delivery between April 15 and June 15.

The City of Saskatoon anticipates delivering nearly 16,000 carts this spring. You can see the delivery schedule on the city’s website. 

“Cart swaps will correspond with your regularly scheduled garbage collection day. Make sure to roll out your existing cart on each garbage collection day and leave it out until 6 p.m. during the cart swap window,” the city said.

The new optional cart sizes come following a September city council vote to begin charging Saskatoon residents for garbage collection on their utility bill, rather than paying for the service through property taxes.

Council began considering a revamp of its curbside garbage program in 2018 as the city tried to honour its goal of diverting 70 per cent of waste away from the landfill by 2023. By May 2023, the city had begun diverting 30 per cent of its waste after the launch of the city-wide curbside organics program.

The smallest cart will cost the average resident $28.98 per year, with the medium cart costing an additional $49.34 and $70.97 more for the large cart.

The city said the smaller cart won’t be given until the existing cart for the households is received.

If you missed out on the first cart swap period, the city said a second swap opportunity will be given in the fall with request opening on July 8.

For those who exchanged their cart size but want to make another switch, a $30 fee will apply to each home exchanging to a different cart size.

-With files from Keenan Sorokan