Recycling Issues

[tomh009]

There are specific bags that are acceptable.

(Wishing our building had green bin collection, it's one thing I do miss from living in a house.)

[Canard]

Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but...

This is completely ridiculous.  I'd heard somewhere that a new waste management contractor is coming in a couple of months, so I wonder if the existing crews just "gave up".

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">.<a href="https://twitter.com/RegionWaterloo">@RegionWaterloo</a> Genuinely appreciate the work these folks do but this is totally unacceptable. Cc: <a href="https://twitter.com/tomjgalloway14">@tomjgalloway14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/KenSeiling">@KenSeiling</a> <a href="https://t.co/kHMk0fgm8w">pic.twitter.com/kHMk0fgm8w</a></p>&mdash; iain (@Canardiain) <a href="https://twitter.com/Canardiain/status/819987408364195840">January 13, 2017</a></blockquote>

[KevinL]

There were collection delays during Boxing Week as well. There may indeed be a bit of protest from the 'lame duck' contractors.

[Canard]

I suspect the timeline went a bit like this:

-Christmas/New Years issues
-Region says "Ok, we're not renewing your contract"
-Contractor says "Fine, we'll do a shitty job"

Speculation, of course, but kind of seems to jive. I guess we won't be putting out garbage/recycle for the next little while (we hardly have any, anyway, and often skip 2 or 3 weeks) - I'll just take it in to work in Cambridge. I'm not contributing to this. Our street looks like a third-world country. It's embarrassing.

[Chicopee]

There were collection delays during Boxing Week as well. There may indeed be a bit of protest from the 'lame duck' contractors.

Absolutely. In addition, volume has increased in anticipation of the restrictions. My house is undergoing a de-clutter as well. This week was one of the biggest piles I've ever put out.

[danbrotherston]

I'm pretty sure the contract was not renewed some time ago.

[GtwoK]

Thus morning I was watching the truck go by, the workers were literally hacking the bins wherever after emptying them, almost jokingly so. Not even in the direction of the houses they came from. Many just into the middle of the street behind the truck (a residential neighborhood, not a busy street)

[nms]

I'm pretty sure the contract was not renewed some time ago.

The waste collection contracts were approved in January 2016. (CBC Article here) The switch happens in March this year.

The few times that garbage or recycling collection was delayed on our street late last year, we were told that the truck had broken down and there was not replacement on standby.  I can imagine that Waste Management doesn't see the point in keeping their fleet at peak capacity if the contract is ending soon.

[Pheidippides]

Preliminary Update: Launch of the New Waste Collection Contract
http://calendar.regionofwaterloo.ca/Coun...17#page=97

"While challenges have been experienced, both contractor performance and citizen participation at launch has been exceptional, with approximately 90% of citizens placing their garbage out on
the correct week at launch, and routing/collection issues being quickly addressed and collection routes completed. A new requirement with this contract is the “nesting” of green bins and blue boxes once emptied, thereby reducing container breakage, containers blowing away in windy conditions, and ensuring the overall neatness of community streets after collection. Feedback from citizens has been overwhelmingly positive on this initiative."

"In March 2017, the first month of the new collection contract, green bin tonnages increased by approximately fifty per cent over the same time period last year, and blue box tonnage increased by six per cent."

[KevinL]

"In March 2017, the first month of the new collection contract, green bin tonnages increased by approximately fifty per cent over the same time period last year, and blue box tonnage increased by six per cent."

The real win here. I hope organics pickup extends beyond curbside as well.

[nms]

How close is that to get us to the 20,000 mark for guaranteed organic waste delivered to Guelph?

[MidTowner]

The year before last, we were less than half (9,400 tonnes). We'd need a sustained 100% increase to fulfill the 20,000 tonnes.

[tomh009]

50% gets us much closer to that goal, though.

[timio]

Anecdotally, I have noticed a visible increase in green bin use on my street since March.

[MidTowner]

tomh009, yes indeed, a 50% increase gets us much closer to the goal. I wasn't discounting the increase; nms asked how close it would get us, so I answered halfway.

I've noticed the same in my neighbourhood as timio has. On my block, some neighbours who very seldomly would put a green bin out now have been weekly.