Windsor shifts to new garbage collection schedule starting Tuesday

The Windsor garbage schedule is set to change, effective Tuesday. CTV Windsor’s Chris Campbell reports.

Garbage collection in Windsor is moving to a Tuesday-to-Friday schedule starting Tuesday, eliminating Monday pickups and shifting all collection days forward by one.

The city said the change will help eliminate the “holiday pushback,” where Monday statutory holidays delayed collection for the rest of the week, sometimes pushing pickups into Saturday.

“We’re trying to eliminate frustrations for the residents and make the whole suite of services accessible and easy for them,” said Jim Leether, manager of environmental services.

“Traditionally, when we’d have a Monday stat holiday, everything would get pushed back across the schedule and some residents, particularly in the east end of the city, would experience collection on Saturdays. So, for the most part, that is eliminated. It does still happen in some circumstances, specifically over the holiday season, maybe Canada Day.”

The transition comes as Miller Waste Systems takes over the city’s garbage collection contract on Tuesday. The 100 per cent Canadian-owned company has hired 40 employees to handle waste collection, yard waste and the city’s upcoming organic waste collection program, set to launch on Oct. 21. The company expects to add 25 more employees once the program begins and has also set up a local office at 4255 Sandwich Street to support operations in Windsor.

The change also means the end of alley collection in Windsor. Residents who previously placed their garbage in alleys must now bring it to the curb by 6 a.m. on their designated pickup day.

The city said this will allow for the use of larger, more efficient trucks, reducing costs and the number of trips to transfer stations.

“Most of the residents that are switching from alley collection to curbside, I’m not going to say them all, but most of them, roughly 85-90 percent, were already placing their yard waste and recycling at the curb. So really, it’s just adding the garbage to that, ” Leether explained.

“People will say things about parked cars being in the way. We are very versed with collecting around parked cars. Other areas in the city have parked cars, other cities that our partners at Miller Waste collect and deal with parked cars. So minor issue for us in the grand scheme of things.”

Miller Waste Systems president Joe Johnson said the company is introducing a fleet of new state-of-the-art garbage trucks with technology designed to improve safety and efficiency.

“Everything does look bright and shiny on day one, but it does change tomorrow when everybody springs into action,” said Johnson.

“The units that we have, all the collection units are state-of-the-art, so we’ll be able to be very productive. They’re outfitted with the latest technology to be able to allow our workers to work safely and proactively and make sure that we don’t miss a stop. We want to be the best, most customer service focused, safest, community focused employer in Canada. So, focus on Canada, and Windsor’s a critical area that we haven’t been in in the past. And we’re just so thrilled to be here.”

The city mailed out nearly 70,000 waste collection calendars earlier this month to notify residents of their new pickup days. Those who haven’t received one can check the City of Windsor’s website or call 311 for more information. https://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/waste-and-recycling/collection-schedule

“This is good. I mean waste diversion is something that’s really important in the big picture,” exclaimed Ward 8 city councillor Gary Kaschak, who also serves as vice chair of the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority.

“A lot of people just think about garbage pickup and recycling, but there’s so much involved that we really need to have this diverted to the right places. The landfill needs to stay open as long as we can, because it’s going to be a big, big operation to get a new landfill eventually down the road. We’re hoping it’s going to last until 2040 and beyond, but the longer that we can keep stuff out of there, divert it and reuse and recycle it, the better.”