Town chooses program-led option under new SK Recycles program
Esterhazy Town council
January 19, 2026, 1:04 pm
Nicole Taylor, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
At their meeting on Thursday, Esterhazy Town Council passed a motion to go with the program-led option for recycling services in the future, rather than the community led option.
Under the program, SK Recycles will be covering the cost of all recycling in the province and is giving municipalities two options to choose between by February 1, 2026—a program-led option or a community-led option.
SK Recycles is Saskatchewan’s new province-wide recycling program for household packaging and paper. The program is funded by businesses that include manufacturers, brand owners and retailers that supply packaging and paper to Saskatchewan residents. SK Recycles works with producers, local governments, First Nations and Métis communities, private companies, other organizations and residents to create a standard province-wide recycling network.
Under the program-led option, SK Recycles would choose who does recycling collection for the town. Under the community-led option, it would be up to the town who does their recycling.
Esterhazy heard from Red Coat Waste Authority previous to their decision about the benefits of using Red Coat for the community-led option. The town also reached out a number of other municipalities who are using both the program-led and community-led options, and had them weigh the pros and cons of each.
In the end, CAO Tammy MacDonald said the town decided to go with the program-led option because they felt there were too many unknowns under the community-led option, and that the program-led option would appear to cost the town less money.
As of February 1, 2028 SK Recycles will be managing recycling for the town at no charge.
Town receives five-year permit to operate landfill
The town has received a five-year permit to operate its landfill. The town has been on a temporary permit for the last few years and has been doing significant work at the landfill to be compliant with the Ministry of Environment. CAO Tammy MacDonald says that work has paid off, with the town being issued a five-year permit.
Town defers request by minor ball for staff funding
Council was asked by Esterhazy Minor Ball if the town would consider providing funding for minor ball to hire personnele to maintain and take care of the ball diamonds.
Council decided to defer the request to Esterhazy Regional Park, as the ball diamonds on the edge of town are the property of the park.
All councillors interested in attending SUMA
Councillors were asked who wanted to attend the SUMA (Sask Association of Urban Municipalities) conference in April. All six councillors expressed interest in attending. For some it will be their first SUMA conference since a number of councillors were newly elected in the fall 2024 elections.
