Mackenzie County has entered into an agreement with Food Cycle Science to establish a pilot program that would allow for 100 FoodCycler machines to be purchased by residents of the County at discounted costs of $200 plus GST (Eco 3 Model – Regularly $600) or $300 plus GST (Eco 5 Model – Regularly $800) in exchange for recording their usage over the course of the program. Once the pilot program is complete, the FoodCycler machine is yours to keep!
The pilot program will run for 12 weeks tentatively beginning on October 15, 2024*. Each household that receives a FoodCycler will be asked to track how many “cycles” they run their FoodCycler through each week. For example, if you fill your FoodCycler up with organic waste and run the machine once per day for a week, you will mark down that you ran your unit 7 times. This tracking allows FoodCycle Science and the Municipality to estimate the total waste diversion achieved over the 12-week pilot program. At the end of the 12 weeks, participants are asked to fill out an exit survey, providing their review of the program and any other feedback they may have. The survey results are used to evaluate the program’s success. *Should units arrive earlier than expected, the pilot program may begin earlier.
This pilot program has several benefits for Mackenzie County, such as useful trial data on home-based food waste diversion over the 12 week pilot, decreasing waste disposal costs, and in a variety of ways increasing the lifespan of our landfills.
Participants are limited to those who live within Mackenzie County, units are limited to one per household, and participants will be selected on first come first served basis.
