City talks trash — expects few problems with new garbage collectors

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/10/2017 (3035 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City officials are expecting few problems as new contractors take over the collection of curbside waste and recyclables.

Two new firms sent out 80 trucks across the city Monday morning, in the largest change in curbside pickup since the rolling bins went into service five years ago.

“There’s going to be some bumps, I’m sure,” Daryl Doubleday, the city’s manager of solid waste, told reporters. “I’m expecting, in the first couple of weeks, it’s going to be slower than normal…brand new equipment, brand new routing, brand new employees.”

City hall cut the number of collection zones in half — down from four to two — and awarded the collection contracts to two firms: GFL Environmental Inc, is responsible for the city’s eastern half, while Miller Waste Systems takes over the western half. The contracts for Emterra Environmental and Progressive Waste Solutions expired on Oct. 1.

As a result of route realignments, the city said 59 per cent of households will be switched to a new collection day. Doubleday said the change initially means more than half of households will go less than seven days between pickup but the others could see up to a nine-day delay. As an example, he said a household’s Monday pickup day could be switched to Fridays.

In addition, Doubleday said it’s possible some households will see their yard waste pickup schedule changed as well, meaning those homes could go three weeks between collection.

To confirm collection days, residents can check the My Waste app or the city’s website at wfp.to/collectionday.

Doubleday said city staff will have a tally Tuesday morning on the number of missed pickups from Monday.

Coun. Brian Mayes, chairman of council’s environment committee, said he believes residents will encounter fewer problems than when the rolling bins went into service five years ago.

Mayes (St. Vital) said his office hadn’t received any complaints about waste and recycling pickup Monday morning.

Doubleday said he’s not worried about the reliability of the two contractors, explaining they have proven track records in other municipalities. He said it might be more likely that residents will be confused if they have a new pickup day or if they’re not aware of the change.

The city sent out more than 200,000 notices to households informing them if their day had changed, but Doubleday said some of those notices were returned unopened.

Mayes said council still has to decide how to pay for the collection contracts. GFL and Miller were awarded seven-year, three-month contracts that have a combined annual cost of $24.7 million, which is substantially more than the $18-million it had been costing city hall.

Garbage collection is paid through property taxes, while the cost of the recyclables and yard-waste pickup is covered through the annual $56 waste-diversion fee charged to all homeowners.

The city could justify an increase in property taxes in 2018 in order to offset the increased contract cost, but Mayor Brian Bowman has gone on the record saying he would not support a property tax increase greater than 2.33 per cent. However, Mayes said part of the additional cost could be covered through property taxes or with an increase in the waste diversion fee.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca