Turning retired meters into new opportunities at Cosmo Industries
In the early '90s, SaskEnergy signed a small contract for office cleaning with a community organization in Saskatoon. Thirty years later, that work has grown into an ongoing partnership that benefits everyone involved.
Cosmopolitan Industries (Cosmo) is a community support program dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for adults with intellectual disabilities. Through its work programs, Cosmo provides secure shredding, recycling and business services.
More than 400 participants take part in Cosmo’s various programs. This includes work opportunities on site at the Cosmo facility.
“Cosmo participants do a variety of work for SaskEnergy,” says Kevin Lucas, a contractor with SaskEnergy’s Buildings department. “They do lawn care and cleanup, as well as confidential shredding for us. But the biggest project they have with us is through our natural gas meter recycling work.”
As part of this project, Cosmo participants help SaskEnergy with an important part of our meter retirement process. Before being recycled, meter components must be separated out and sorted. This includes removing the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) modules. The modules are then sent to Cosmo.
“Participants take apart the entire module, separating every piece of plastic, metal and electronics. They do an amazing job,” says Paul Boyer. “The batteries and electronics are sent away. Cosmo’s own recycling department handles the remaining pieces.”
A member of the Measurement Operations team at SaskEnergy, Paul came up with the idea in late 2025. A backlog of retired meters had the team looking for an efficient solution.
“Cosmo taking on the work benefits SaskEnergy. But it also creates opportunities for valuable members of our community,” he says.
Launched in November 2025, the program quickly became popular with participants. It even caught the attention of two Senators!
In early September, SaskEnergy team members joined The Honourable Yvonne Boyer (Senator – Ontario) and The Honourable Tracy Muggli (Senator – Saskatchewan) for a tour of Cosmo. The group met program workers, learned what they do, and saw some of the SaskEnergy work up close.
“Opportunities like these provide participants with real meaningful work. It's not just token tasks,” Kevin says. “When you talk to the participants, they tell you how happy they are to work on these projects. It gives them a sense of responsibility and pride and in what they do.”
Throughout the tour, this pride was on full display. Participants proudly showed their work and gave the tour group a warm welcome.
“Working with Cosmo is ultimately about giving back to our community,” Kevin says. “It’s a commitment to inclusion. It helps create opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise be there.”
