Trash collection moving to every two weeks in four new Montreal boroughs

Garbage, which was put out for pickup on the incorrect day, lays on the ground next to recycling bins that were collected by sanitation workers in Montreal on Wednesday, June 18, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christopher Katsarov

The boroughs of Ahuntsic–Cartierville and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension, Pierrefonds–Roxboro and L’Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève are moving to biweekly trash.

The new schedule will begin on the following dates:

• Oct. 1: Ahuntsic–Cartierville and Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension 
• Nov. 2: Pierrefonds–Roxboro and L’Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève

The new arrangements are intended to encourage composting and recycling, said the City of Montreal, which made the announcement Thursday morning as the provincial election got underway. Composting and recycling collection will continue on a weekly basis.

The main landfills serving Greater Montreal will soon reach their maximum capacity, and so the Montreal Metropolitan Community is asking municipalities to limit household waste collections to a maximum of 26 per year by December 2027.

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According to estimates by the City of Montreal, the various measures implemented as part of the collection optimization project could generate savings of up to $41 million over seven years.

Biweekly garbage collection has already been implemented in several Montreal boroughs since 2024, and the city plans to continue rolling it out in the coming years.

“Several boroughs and municipalities that have implemented this practice are seeing positive results, such as the borough of Saint-Laurent, where there has been a 17 per cent reduction in waste sent to landfills,” said the City of Montreal.

However, the Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough quickly voiced outrage after the collection schedule was changed in November 2024.

Residents soon began complaining about overflowing trash cans, foul odours, and the presence of rodents in the neighbourhood. “We see them in the alley; they come onto the balcony. We have to keep our doors and windows closed—we can’t live like this anymore,” Isabella Goyette, a resident, told CTV News at the time.

During the 2025 municipal election campaign, both Projet Montréal and Ensemble Montreal promised to restore weekly collection starting in the summer.

The Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve borough reinstated weekly collection during the summer months this year to reduce “nuisances.”The reduction in waste collection was part of a plan by Valérie Plante, then mayor of Montreal, with an aim to become zero-waste by 2030.

This initiative began as a pilot project in 2022 before being expanded to the entire borough in November 2024.

- With files from Noovo Info