The Region of Waterloo’s new cart-based waste collection system rolls out for the first time in just one week.
The municipality hosted a demonstration of how waste collection will look going forward at the Waterloo Waste Management Site on Erb Street on Tuesday morning, ahead of the first day of the new system on March 3.
The Region’s Director of Waste Management, Oliva Kwok, said next week’s collection will be different, allowing residents a chance at a “fresh start.”
“Based on the current re-schedule, we wanted to make sure that no one was holding garbage for an extensive period of time. Everybody in the region will be getting garbage and organics collection next week, March third to sixth. So, everyone will roll out their black garbage cart and then make sure you check the schedule afterwards to see what your frequency is or what your schedule is.”
Under the new system, some residents will have a different waste pickup day. Visit the region’s website for details.
Kwok spoke about how the region will benefit from the program in ways the public might not see. For example, she said it will help elevate some of the physical burden on waste collectors.
“Collecting waste manually is very difficult. So, you can imagine if somebody was collecting 800 bags of garbage a day, lifting it by hand, it’s very hard on the body. There are a lot of slips, trips, falls, cuts from doing the work. So, switching to a cart-based collection, it will help reduce a lot of the health and safety issues.”
Kwok also said this new program can help reduce the costs of training new staff.
“It makes the work much more attractive to recruit and to retain staff members. So, people are actually working in the waste management field longer, or people who may not have been able to physically lift the garbage by hand can actually do this work because they are operating the work in a different way.”
Going forward, garbage collection will take place every other week, organics will be collected weekly, bulky items will be collected once a month, and yard waste collection happens every other week from the spring through to the fall.
Residents will be required to place their black and green carts two feet apart with the arrows facing the street while ensuring that their lids are closed.
Over the past few months, regional staff have delivered about 350,000 carts to residents, and provided a free exchange period for carts that don’t suit the homes they were delivered to in the fall.