City of Guelph launches shared waste container pilot downtown

Guelph is fed up with overflowing waste bins and garbage strewn on downtown sidewalks. CTV’s Hannah Schmidt has details of the city’s proposed solution.

The City of Guelph has launched a new pilot program aimed at improving waste management and cleanliness in the downtown core.

“What we hope to achieve here is to address aesthetic issues of the downtown...as well as enhance compliance with respect to the waste management bylaw,” explained Cameron Walsh, division manager of solid waste resources with the City of Guelph.

Eligible downtown businesses and residents can now register for secure access to shared organics, recycling and garbage containers at three locations: the MacDonell Street parking lot, the laneway between 72 and 80 MacDonell Street, and Wilson Street.

“We went to council in September of last year and the overall program cost is estimated to be $1 million in capital infrastructure and $400,000 in operating expense over a 10-year implementation horizon of the infrastructure renewal in the downtown,” said Walsh. “The solid waste component of that is I should say roughly six per cent of that cost. Whether it’s borne by businesses or borne by taxes is to be determined. So we have studies ongoing, relative to user fees and the potential application of user fees , allows us to potentially assign costs appropriately.”

Each site is locked and accessible 24/7 only to registered users with a special code. The pilot will run until December 31, 2025, with the potential to extend into 2026 based on feedback.

Addressing long-standing issues

The city said downtown has faced ongoing challenges with waste disposal, including overflowing bins, odours, pests and poor aesthetics. Officials also noted a lack of compliance with municipal waste bylaws.

“Addressing the aesthetics part of that as well but what we see is the performance is not where we’d like it to be in terms of diverting the potential waste to landfill,” said Walsh.

As part of revitalization efforts, the city is planning to eventually install underground waste containers, but the shared bin program is being tested as an interim solution.

The Macdonell Street bins include a weight-based measurement system that will track the amount of garbage, recycling and organics deposited by individual users. The city said the data will be used to evaluate waste-diversion programs and improve sorting practices.

“Certainly, respect all privacy and privacy laws,” said Walsh. “We are just looking at the aggregate tonnage, things like that to help us with our planning and delineation of needs relative to certain sectors like residential versus commercial.”

Downtown reaction

Some downtown businesses and residents, however, are less enthusiastic about the pilot.

They cited fees attached to participation and said the current system already works well for them.

“About every small business down here keeps everyone, or just about everyone, accountable, with keeping a really nice standard of cleanliness,” said one resident.

“Right now, looking around the city, it’s quite clean,” said Jerron Pryce, owner of Pristine Fades. “People are utilizing the bins perfectly, people are utilizing it better.”

Some businesses are against the changes, explaining that it would require more effort to transport waste to the shared sites.

“There’s a designated area for garbage for people to store their waste, but it’s what comes with it,” said Pryce.

“It sounds really inconvenient,” said Bryan Munn, owner of Sweet Candy. “I feel like we have a good system going here that we’re already paying for.”

For now, businesses and residents remain divided — some resistant to change, others willing to give it a chance.

“It would be beneficial, I think, in that sense to just have somewhere for it all to go otherwise, you do see sometimes overflowing garbage’s,” explained Ashleigh Campbell, assistant manager at Grit & Grace.

“There are some garbage’s in the back like garbage’s outside, but not everywhere right? So maintaining that is a very good idea,” said Mubarak Sussen, an employee at Bombay Kitchen.

Next steps

Businesses near the waste sites and residents within 100 metres are eligible to register for access. The city said it will continue gathering feedback throughout the pilot before presenting findings to council.