RM of Hanover encourages curbside composting

With more than 1,000 homeowners doing curbside compost pick-up, the RM of Hanover is encouraging more LUD residents to enter the program.

“We’re wanting to divert waste from the landfill so we can keep our landfill healthy,” said Katie Derksen, public works administrative assistant.

In 2025, every tonne of waste diverted from the landfill saves the RM $60. Derksen couldn’t say how much organic waste is being diverted from the landfill as the RM doesn’t have a scale to weigh the trucks.

“But we know it’s a significant amount based on how big our pile is and the cost saving that we see on the garbage fees from diverting the tonnage,” she said.

Depending on the size, it costs between $75 and $94 for a bin (provided free of charge) and for the contractor to pick up it’s $5.84 per bin/per pick-up, which is rolled into the taxpayer’s solid waste bill of $225.

It will cost $95,308 for the RM to perform curbside pick-up at the four LUDs this year and $2,800 for the community depot pick-up in New Bothwell. The RM will rake in $205,425 in solid waste fees from the four LUDs that are doing the curbside composting.

The composting program began in 2016 with a 20-foot dump trailer that rotated between the different communities. The curbside program launched in Mitchell in 2022 with just 211 bins, and by 2025 the number of participating properties in Mitchell has more than doubled. Blumenort joined the program in the fall of 2023, followed by Grunthal in the spring of 2024. This spring, more than 200 residents signed up in Kleefeld for curbside composting bins.

“New Bothwell has opted out still, but they are actually in the process of gauging interest from their residents to see if they would be interested in joining the curbside collection verses doing the community compost depot,” she said, noting there are daily calls from residents who want to join the curbside pickup option.

Right now, the RM is just collecting organic matter and turning it into compost. Derksen said there are no discussions as to whether the RM would allow residents to come and collect the compost for their gardens.

The RM would like residents to remember not to include non-compostable items in their bins or the community depot, such as plastics. Compost can be placed directly into the bins or depots or collected using compostable bags approved for organic waste.

The composting schedule runs intermittently between May and October and is available on the RM’s website at hanovermb.ca. New Bothwell community compost depot has changed to Tuesday evenings between 5 and 8 p.m. at the New Bothwell Rec Center, which is run by El’Dad Ranch. For those who want curbside pickup of their organic material, they should call the RM at 204-346-7129 or email solidwaste@hanovermb.ca.