A spokesperson for the Rural Municipality of Hanover is calling it a really good year for their compost program.

In 2019, Hanover took in 109,900 pounds of compostable material. That is an increase from 107,600 pounds in 2018. In the last four years, Hanover has collected the following:

2019 - 109,900 pounds
2018 - 107,600 pounds
2017 - 71,150 pounds
2016 - 70,300 pounds

Jason Peters is Manager of Recreation and Community Services for the RM of Hanover. He says it is difficult to know exactly why the numbers keep climbing each year, but he suggests it probably has to do with awareness around composting and says availability of depots is having an impact on the habits of residents.

"It shows that people are making that a part of their disposal habits," says Peters. "And we're working towards a more sustainable way of doing things."

According to Peters, Hanover ran a similar number of compost depots in 2019 as 2018. It cost the municipality less than $6,000 to run the program for the year.

"We were happy with the benefit we get from it," he says.

The compostable material is then picked up by Overton Environmental Enterprises near Giroux.

"We can get them to take care of it for us and it does not end up in the landfill," he says. "So everybody wins."

Peters says Hanover tried nothing new with its compost program this year. But, he notes they are always looking to improve things in the future if there are opportunities.

"Evaluation of this year's process and everything will take place in the next little while," says Peters. "If there are changes to make we'll look at that probably in the new year but at this point the plan is to continue the program next year."