Windsor recycling pickup to resume Tuesday

CTV Windsor: Garbage cleanup Flood debris cleanup has been overwhelming for garbage crews. Bob Bellacicco has an update.

Good news for Windsor residents.

Recycling pickup will resume Tuesday across the city after being cancelled to allow crews to focus on the collection of flood-damaged debris.

More than 200 millimetres of rain fell on Windsor and the surrounding areas over a 24-hour period on Aug. 29, washing out major streets and flooding more than 6,200 homes.

As of Saturday, Sept. 16, close to 5,000 tonnes of flooding material had been collected by Windsor garbage crews.

The city’s environmental services manager Anne Marie Albidone says crews have already started a second pass of the hardest hit locations.

“It’s been a real team effort between City staff, residents and all our partners: GFL Canada, Waste Connections, Miller Waste, Diponti Paving, Jones Group Inc., Belmont Construction, and the Town of Tecumseh,” says Albidone.  “We’ve all been working very hard to get our neighbourhoods back to normal, and we’re almost there.”

Once the second pass is complete, Albidone says residents who still have flooding materials at their curbside will be asked to call 311 to arrange an individual pick-up.

Albidone adds they still anticipate the flood clean-up will take another three weeks.

As for recycling pickup, Albidone tells CTV Windsor their contractor Green for Life will use extra trucks for the next two weeks to help with the large recycling volume.

The city will follow the dates already posted on the collection calendar.

Residents who have Tuesday as their regular schedule day should use cardboard boxes for any extra recycling over and above what fits in blue and red boxes. If plastic bags are used, they should be clear bags, and items still need to be separated.

The Public Drop-off Depot is free for recycling materials if residents can’t wait for their regular pick-up, but the depot is no longer free for flood drop-off, as regular tipping fees have resumed.

The temporary holding site at the former GM Plant on Walker road remains in use by the City’s removal trucks but is being used less frequently, and material continues to be hauled out on a daily basis.

Residents are reminded that yard waste collection is still cancelled for the month of September, and the bulk furniture collection program remains on hold.