A new residential garbage collection schedule begins Tuesday in Windsor.
Garbage collection is moving to a Tuesday to Friday schedule from the previous Monday to Thursday schedule.
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.
Jim Leether, Manager of Environmental Services with the City of Windsor, says the schedule change is to line up all of the services on the same day and eliminate the 'holiday puck back.'
"Traditionally, when we'd have a Monday statutory holiday, everything would get pushed back across the schedule, and some residents, particularly in the east end of the city, would experience collection on Saturday. For the most part, that is eliminated. It does still happen in some circumstances, specifically over the holiday season, maybe Canada Day," he says.
Miller Waste Systems is taking over the contract for garbage collection in the city as of April 1 and has hired 40 employees to handle operations, maintenance, and support roles.
The company, which is 100 per cent Canadian owned, will also be responsible for yard waste, along with residential organic waste collection that's expected to start Oct. 21 of this year.
Once the residential organic waste collection begins, it's expected the company will hire an additional 25 employees.
The change also eliminates alley collection, and those impacted will need to set all collection at the front curb by 6 a.m. on their designated collection day, unless notified otherwise.
Leether says most of the residents switching from alley collection to curbside were already placing their yard waste and recycling at the curb.
"It allows Miller Waste, our partner there, to utilize larger trucks that we traditionally weren't able to utilize with the alley collection. We used to have to buy specialized trucks, small trucks; they take longer to get here, and they're a little more expensive. By allowing Miller to use larger trucks, it gets easier for them as far as payloads and less trips to the transfer," he says.
President of Miller Waste Systems, Joe Johnson, says they have new trucks as they begin servicing Windsor.
"The units that we have, all the collection units, are state-of-the-art. 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 productively and make sure that we don't miss a stop," he says.
Nearly 70,000 waste collection calendars were sent out to Windsor homes at the beginning of March, but if you haven't received one yet, you're encouraged to contact 311.
You can also find a version of the calendar on the City of Windsor's website.
Miller Waste Systems has established its Windsor office at 4255 Sandwich St.