London overhauling curbside garbage collection this year

Changes coming to London's garbage program The city is preparing to move away from its garbage calendar program to pick-up on set days. CTV London's Daryl Newcombe reports.

Long awaited changes to residential waste collection are poised to begin in the second half of this year.

London’s confusing six day rotating schedule for curbside garbage collection will end, and same day collection will start as part of the planned launch of green bins for organic waste this fall.

A consistent collection day would be welcomed by many Londoners, including Dana Clark who lives in the Westmount neighbourhood.

“Our neighbour to the right there, he saves our sanity. We come out look if he’s got it out we know it’s time to put it out!” Clark admitted.

City hall has initiated a request for proposals (RFP) for companies interested in processing green bin waste starting later this year.

Documents associated with the bid/tender process confirm several details of the green bin program:

Originally slated to roll out in fall 2021, green bins have been delayed twice by the COVID-19 pandemic’s ongoing supply chain issues.

Last summer, a report to council explained that the manufacturer of 26 specialized garbage collection trucks could not estimate a manufacturing date for half of the vehicles ordered by the city.

“We’re still waiting and working with our truck manufacturer right now to get the final build scheduled for the last 13 trucks that are needed for the start up,” explained Director of Climate Change, Environment, and Waste, Jay Stanford.

Stanford will receive an update from the manufacturer in a few weeks.

Meanwhile, the municipal share of the blue box recycling program will start shifting onto producers of the waste — saving taxpayers millions each year.

Collection and processing costs are currently split 50/50 between the municipality and companies that manufacture blue box waste.

On July 1, producers gradually start taking full responsibility for funding blue boxes in Ontario.

A report to the Civic Works Committee reads, “Preliminary estimates suggest that between $500,000 and eventually more than $4 million per year in 2026 will be saved.”

Stanford added that shifting the cost onto producers may motivate a reduction in the quantity of waste created at the source.

“It is a system that industry will be paying for, so they’ll be using all their ingenuity and all their science to make it a much stronger system,” he said.