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The city estimates 85 million kilograms of food and yard waste will be diverted from the landfill annually through the program and instead turned into compost at the $143-million organics and biosolids processing facility and an adjacent $25-million “resource recovery campus” at the former Race City site near the Shepard landfill.

While some compost will be made available to Calgarians free of charge, the majority made at the new facility will be sold.

“The revenue generated is keeping the program fee low,” Wagner said.

Beginning in January 2018, residents will pay $6.50 every month for the green cart program they can’t opt out of. The city has previously said it will cost $30.6 million annually to run the program.

While some members of council have been demanding better waste-diversion practices for many years, Ward 4 Coun. Sean Chu said he thinks the program is a form of tax that’s not needed.

“A lot of residents are already doing what the city will now be doing — composting,” he said. “People aren’t happy.”

Chu said he’s heard from countless citizens who question where they will store the third bin, why they have to pay for a compost program if they already compost, and why the city is handling a program a private company could operate.

“I tell them, ‘I’m sorry it’s coming. Council approved it,'” Chu said.

Once green cart collection starts, blue recycling and green compost bins will be collected weekly on the same day. Black garbage carts will be collected on a separate day, every second week, a system Wagner said residents in the five-year pilot were quick to embrace.

“Having their waste switched to every second week does help people participate as well,” she said.

Wagner urged hesitant Calgarians to give the city-wide composting program a try.

“If residents just start to try to use the program they will see that difference and realize how beneficial it is,” she said.