City takes step forward on partial in-house garbage collection

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This article was published 05/12/2023 (676 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The City of Winnipeg appears set to study options to have municipal staff provide some garbage collection to help combat dumping, with a report on the potential cost expected soon.

On Tuesday, council’s executive policy committee approved a call to have civic staff provide garbage and recycling collection in a zone concentrated around downtown and the North End, roughly covering the Daniel McIntyre, Mynarski and Point Douglas wards, as well as the West Broadway neighbourhood.

The move would begin in early 2027, to respect existing contracts. Currently, all garbage collection in those areas is contracted out.

However, EPC also ordered a report (due back in about five months) that details: the cost to make such a change; how an “in-house” crew could help address bulky waste, illegal dumping and encampment cleanups and other issues; and the potential impact to the city’s future curbside compost collection, pending council approval.

“What we’ve adopted today is that we do the prudent thing and find out, first of all, the cost implications of such a move. I’m not opposed to looking at such a move, but we need to first understand the impact on our budget to make such a transition,” Mayor Scott Gillingham told reporters.

Gillingham noted the partial switch to public garbage pickup would not be guaranteed if the motion passes, since council would still need to vote on any spending related to it.

joyanne.pursage@freepress.mb.ca