Windsor to start weekly organics, reduced garbage pickups in 2025
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Trash collection in the City of Windsor will be reduced to every other week starting in 2025.
Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to switch garbage pickup to a bi-weekly schedule when the city’s current collection contract expires in 18 months.
But residents worried about reeking weeks-old refuse can unplug their noses. The stinkiest stuff — food and organic waste — will be collected weekly as part of a new curbside pickup program scheduled to start when regular, non-organic garbage collections are reduced by half.
“We are certainly not the first out of the gate with this program,” Anne Marie Albidone, city manager of environmental services, told council.
“In fact, we’re one of the last out of the gate and many municipalities across Ontario have a very successful weekly organics program and every other week for garbage pickup.”
Garbage collection in Windsor currently happens every week, and curbside leaf and yard waste collections happen 13 times each year — three in spring, four in summer, five in fall and one in winter.
The current garbage collection contract expires March 31, 2025. The city has to issue a new request for proposals for waste collection this fall to give the successful bidder enough time to obtain equipment.
At the same time, curbside collection of food and organic waste will begin across the region. That’s in response to the province legislating higher waste reduction and organics diversion targets.
Although the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority has an agreement with Seacliff Energy in Leamington to process the region’s food and organics waste, the city remains responsible for managing its own waste collection services.
Council on Tuesday also agreed to increase the frequency of leaf and yard waste collection to bi-weekly between April and November.
“This has been a long time coming,” said Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie. The organics collection program will help the city meet its landfill diversion targets and ensure the local landfill reaches its full lifecycle up to 2040, “and potentially beyond, depending on how successful we are,” he said.
“Community buy-in is going to be critical for us to be successful. We can do this, I know we can do it. But we are going to have to be serious about how we communicate why and what we’re doing.”
Ward 1 Coun. Fred Francis said he has no fears about Windsorites dealing with the change.
“People will pick it up relatively quickly. I’m sure of it.” Francis said. “I’m happy to support it and I look forward to implementing it in 2025.”
Will less frequent trash collection attract rodents? Albidone said it won’t.
“Rats, and in general any animal that’s going to be going through our garbage, are really looking for the food sources — that’s what they’re after,” Albidone said. “They’re not after plastic wrap or anything like that. They’re looking for a food source. That, we’re going to continue to collect every week.”
Windsor residents will receive hard-sided bins for food and organic waste, ones that are “as animal-proof as possible,” Albidone said.
What the bins will look like has not yet been determined, but she said residents will likely receive a small “kitchen catcher” for gathering organic waste inside the home, and a larger bin to keep outside and bring to the curb.
As for residents with diapers and incontinence products — regular non-organic trash items that pile up quickly — Albidone said the city is exploring alternate collection options.
Staff are currently reviewing what other municipalities do. Some examples include letting residents with those products register for special, more frequent collections, and free disposal at a public drop-off depot.
At the request of Ward 4 Coun. Mark McKenzie, staff will implement at least one additional option for those who need to dispose of diapers and incontinence products, and consider extra non-organic trash pickup dates around the holidays.
“I’m really excited about this,” said Mark McKenzie about organics pickup. He’s been composting for about two decades, he said.
“I know there’s going to be an education component to this, but give it a few weeks and I trust that all the residents are going to actually love this in the end.”
According to a report from city staff, maintaining weekly garbage collection and adding weekly curbside organics collection would “result in a significant financial cost,” and would not be necessary.
About 40 per cent of garbage is generally accepted to be organic waste, the report said. With that much waste diverted from regular garbage collection, residents will have less trash to bring to the curb.
To review the best options for waste collection services in the region, the solid waste authority hired consultant EXP Consulting. The consultant determined that, based on municipalities in Ontario and elsewhere, garbage collection every other week is a best practice, as is weekly food and organics collection.
The consultant also recommended that garbage be placed in clear bags for collection. Clear bags, the report said, allow collectors to refuse bags if they can see “a significant amount of organic waste.” City staff are not recommending that approach at the program’s onset, so residents can continue using whatever garbage bags they currently use.
At the request of Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante, city staff will report back to council with a comprehensive communication plan to educate the public about the changes to waste collection. The plan will include community partners and strategies to communicate with residents who may not speak English.
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