REGINA, Sask. — Waste management professionals from across Saskatchewan gathered in Saskatoon and Regina this week to tackle some of the province’s biggest waste-reduction challenges, while examining new infrastructure and recycling programs intended to give discarded materials another use.
The Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council’s two-day Waste Solutions Summit brought together municipal representatives, industry organizations and environmental specialists on Oct. 7 and 8. The program combined greenhouse gas management training, discussions on waste priorities and tours of local projects.
“The purpose of the summit is for people all across the waste industry to get together, educate themselves on new topics, do some networking, and possibly come up with new creative solutions for waste problems facing Saskatchewan,” said Naomi Mihilewicz, the council’s executive director.
The council’s member survey identified inconsistent recycling messages, contamination and illegal dumping as major concerns, alongside food waste reduction.
“When we had asked them what are the most important issues that you guys are facing, they came back and said illegal dumping of waste, contamination in the waste that they're trying to sort out,” Mihilewicz said.
The roundtable discussions explored ways to improve recycling guidance, signage and surveillance, expand access to waste drop-off sites and make disposal options more convenient, particularly in smaller communities with limited transfer station hours.
The summit also examined how infrastructure could help divert more material from landfills.
In Saskatoon, participants toured the city’s compost depot and visited the site of a new organics facility planned beside the landfill. Mihilewicz said purpose-built facilities give municipalities greater control over how organic waste is managed.
In Regina, attendees visited the Regina Food Bank to learn about its food-waste diversion partnership with a local farm. The arrangement offers another way to put organic material to use rather than sending it to the landfill.
“It's just nice to see progress in that area,” Mihilewicz said. “I think in both cities it's been a long time coming to have good spaces for organics to go. That's not the landfill.”
The summit also covered provincial recycling programs and changes expected in the coming years. Saskatchewan is transitioning toward a provincewide system for household packaging and paper, with the full transition expected to be completed in 2028.
Another development is a new tire-processing facility planned for the Saskatoon area. The facility is expected to increase recycling capacity as communities work through backlogs of used tires.
Mihilewicz said communities have been waiting for more capacity to deal with accumulated tires, which are bulky, take up space and can pose a fire hazard.
The summit began each day with training led by ECO Canada on greenhouse gas accounting, including how organizations can measure emissions and identify opportunities to reduce them. Afternoon sessions also covered extended producer responsibility programs, which place responsibility for managing certain products at the end of their useful lives on producers.
The council plans to continue the discussions at its next major Regina event, a joint conference with the Solid Waste Association of North America scheduled for May 26 to 28, 2027.
