Nearly 70,000 waste collection calendars are being sent to Windsor homes this week, and inside the 2025-2026 edition contains changes coming to pickup dates and alley collection.
The City of Windsor says garbage collection is now shifting to a Tuesday to Friday collection schedule beginning April 1, 2025.
This means that residents that previously had garbage pickup on Monday will now have their regular collection date shifted to Tuesday, and residents with collection on Tuesday will now shift to Wednesday, and so on. The new days are clearly marked on the new calendars.
Also, as of April 1, the city will no longer be collecting garbage or yard waste in residential alleys. Residents who formerly received alley collection are asked to set all collection at the front curb by 6 a.m. on their designated collection day unless notified otherwise. Roughly 120 homes not affected by this change will receive letters later this week informing them that their waste pickup location has not changed.
Jim Leether, Manager of Environmental Services with the City of Windsor, says change is inevitable.
"We are just in the middle of implementing our new waste collection contract with our new contractor, and later this year we will also be introducing - along with the rest of the region - a green bin organics waste program. So, all of these things kind of lined up to allow us the opportunity to really take a step forward in our collection policies."
He says this new schedule actually benefits the residents.
"We will no longer have as many what we call 'push weeks', where when we have a holiday Monday and everybody's day gets pushed back a day to include Saturday collection for some residents, we'll avoid most of that now moving forward. So, it allows for a much more consistent, straightforward collection schedule for the resident."
Leether says the alley collection limits the city.
"We currently require our contractor to buy specialized, small garbage trucks to enter the alley's and collect, specifically garbage collection. These trucks are rather expensive, and they also limit the the contractors from maximizing their loads, and their productivity, thus creating more cost that is passed back to the city, and ultimately the taxpayer."
The collection calendar is valid from April 1 to March 31, 2026.
Residents who have not received a calendar by March 30 should contact 311.
-with files from AM800's The Shift with Patty Handysides
