There’s some changes coming to curbside waste and recycling collection in Grey Highlands, including a new bin system and a shift to bi-weekly collection for both garbage and recycling.
During a special council meeting on Aug. 19, council awarded Waste Management of Canada Corporation a collection contract for depot hauling recycling and processing, however, Mayor Paul McQueen says they still need to iron out a lot of the details, including costs and the extent of the service.
The meeting followed information sessions held during the week.
This comes as council received a report in mid-February detailing how their current curbside collection contracts for both waste and recycling were going to expire this December. In 2021, staff received notification from its current collection contractor that they would not be extending current contracts.
A request for proposal (RFP) was issued in May 2022 and closed June 28.
In a committee of the whole meeting on July 27, a recommendation was received to award the RFP for the work. It was deferred, however, until after information sessions were conducted.
CAO Karen Govan says as part of the discussions on Aug. 19, it was decided both garbage and recycling collection will move to a bi-weekly basis and occur the same week.
McQueen says they made various other decisions including sending the garbage to Twin Creeks landfill in Alvinston instead of the local facility, and implementing an automated cart system.
“We are moving from a bag system to a bin system,” says Govan. “Each resident will receive a large recycling bin and a smaller garbage bin.”
McQueen adds other items regarding garbage and recycling were deferred, however, and are set to come back in a later report, which will include costs and urban leaf pickup.
When the municipality switches to the new bin system in the new year, McQueen says he imagines by Jan. 1, 2023, bag tags will no longer be used.
“Certainly this direction from council does need to go back from staff to the contractor Waste Management to work out the details. There was a lot of points raised with regards to the seasonal residents and how that is going to work. A lot of discussion around private roads, getting into the details of where the garbage is and all of those particulars, certainly our downtown cores, and how that is going to be moving forward,” says McQueen.
Govan says they aim to bring back by-laws targeting the particulars of this new system before the end of council in October.