For $5, Whitehorse residents may soon pick up a 20-litre burlap sack of the same waste they paid the city to take away.

By the time they're up at the landfill buying it back though, it will be in the form of compost suitable for gardens and landscaping. There are about 2,000 metric tonnes of compost ready to be sold from the landfill.

City engineering and environment manager Wayne Tuck proposed the price to council at Monday evening's city council meeting, with members set to vote on it next week.

It would go on sale after council approves the $5 price tag.

At a media briefing Monday afternoon, Garret Gillespie, a heavy equipment operator who works at the compost site, said the $5 rate was proposed as the beginning of a rate that will eventually see the city recover the full cost of operating the compost program.

A $10 price tag per bag would have been a more accurate price to reflect the true cost of operating the compost facility, he said.

However, the city is still a few years away from getting to a point of full cost recovery with compost, Tuck said.

"The compost product that the City of Whitehorse will have available for sale this year will be a general use product that is safe to use in any environment,” said the administrative report presented to council by public works manager Terry O'Toole.

"Although this product will be of a higher quality than what is currently available locally, it should still be considered on the low end of the product quality scale in terms of compost.

"As stated in the compost business plan, over the next three years the city hopes to have a number of higher-quality compost products available for sale at which time the fees and charges bylaw will need to be amend to include the new products.

"These new products, however, will only be produced as operational budgets allow.”

At $5 per bag, buying from the city would end up being cheaper than at a private retailer.

Rhea Girouard, who manages the Porter Creek Indoor Garden Centre, said the same amount of compost can range anywhere from $7 to $14, depending on the type which range from shrimp compost to organic, among many others.

However, she also said she doesn't have any issues with the city selling its own compost.

"No one can compete with me,” she said with a laugh.

Coun. Dave Austin questioned staff about why the city didn't sell the 20-litre bag at a higher price – a dollar more or so – to compete with private retailers. O'Toole explained the $5 price tag as a cost recovery.

The city had originally planned to sell the compost earlier in the season, but it needed additional calcium and ascorbic acid before it could make it available to the public.

Other compost that didn't have the added nutrients is being used by the city on a number of its projects through the summer.

With the additional nutrients now in the compost, the city can start selling it as soon as council gives the go-ahead with the vote set for next week.

By then, the price tag may be a little higher than just the $5 if city staff add a proposed deposit for the reusable bags after Coun. Doug Graham suggested it last night.

Following O'Toole's presentation, Graham brought forward the idea, pointing out that the chances of people bringing back their bags would be higher if there was a deposit attached to the price.

While the city has the bags already, it was Coun. Ranj Pillai who suggested the city look next time for a more local retailer.

While the bags the city purchased might have been cheaper than buying locally, the practice that saw the bags likely produced overseas and shipped here doesn't fit with the sustainable practices the city has been pushing, such as the compost program.

As council ponders its decision on the price, staff are trying to ensure residents properly separate their compost from garbage and recyclables.

Shoes, plastics, pillows, tires and other wares that don't break down have been found in the compost carts the city picks up from residential customers every other week.

"People seem confused between compost and recycling,” Tuck said. "We expect people to take recycling to Raven (Recycling Society) or P&M.”

That leaves staff with the task of separating compost through a process that involves soaking the materials with water and grinding them down before they're separated by another machine.

All the non-compostable material is then put in the landfill, while the compostable material begins the process of breaking down further until it is ready to be sold.

"It's quite a lengthy process, and there's a lot of work that goes into it,” Gillespie said.

It's about a full year from the time a homeowner puts compostable waste in the green cart at the end of his or her driveway for pick-up to it becoming full compost suitable as a soil enhancement.

City officials are asking residents to ensure they separate their waste so that only compost is placed in their compost bin to help ensure the process is as efficient as it can be and that machines have a longer life.

Hoping an education campaign will be all that's needed, Tuck also said the trucks used to collect compost and garbage are equipped with cameras that can record what is being dumped into the truck from the compost bins.

The city could eventually end up using those recordings to levy fines or even halt service, with council's approval, to certain residences if the problem continues, he added.

The compost work won't end there either as the city continues its plan of being the first municipality in the country to have organically certified compost from a cart collection program.

"We're already well on the way,” Gillespie said.