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At Carleton Place council’s recent committee meeting, staff presented some options to increase resident participation in household composting through the services offered by Just Good Compost.
The service provides households with a compost collection bucket that is picked up weekly and replaced with a clean one, with finished compost later made available to subscribers. Council had approved $25,000 annually for the program through the 2024, 2025 and 2026 budgets, alongside support for the Town’s Food Cycler (counter-top dehydrator) and backyaCarleton Place looks to boost compost activity
rd composter rebate programs. The Town’s subsidy gives users $75 off the regular $275 annual fee and so far 120 households are signed up.
Staff recommended a new subsidy model allowing households to receive a $75 discount on up to three annual subscriptions to the service. Staff say the proposed change would continue encouraging participation while remaining within the existing budget envelope. Councillor Mark Hinton suggested increasing the subsidy to $150.
After a healthy discussion where most councillors supported the program and showed interest in increasing participation, the idea was deferred to the next meeting to give Hinton the opportunity to discuss ways to accommodate a hike in the number of users with staff and report back to the committtee.
Story by Brian Turner
