Editor's note: These changes do not affect Orillia and Barrie residents, but rather people who live in the towns and townships outside of those cities.
NEWS RELEASE
COUNTY OF SIMCOE
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Starting Feb. 3, 2020 curbside waste collection in the County of Simcoe is changing to garbage and recycling collection on alternating weeks, with green bin collection continuing weekly.
The schedule will start during the week of Feb. 3 to 7 with garbage and green bin collection. The following week, Feb. 10 to 14, residents will receive recycling and green bin collection. Collections will alternate on this schedule moving forward. Collection days are not changing; however, collection times will be adjusted.
Residents are reminded to have materials out to their curb by 7 a.m. on their regular collection day. New schedule at a glance:
- Feb 3 to 7: garbage and green bin collection
- Feb. 10 to 14: recycling and green bin collection
- Feb. 17 to 21: garbage and green bin collection
- Feb. 24 to 28: recycling and green bin collection
Collections rotate on this alternating schedule moving forward
Benefits to the environment and service levels:
This change to collection frequency of some materials will support the environment by growing our green bin program, encourage a reduction in single-use materials, and help to lower emissions with fewer trucks on the road each day.
It will also help restore consistency to our collection service by addressing past labour issues experienced by our contractor and allow the County to better manage long-term contractual costs, which are rising throughout the waste management industry.
To provide convenience to residents, recycling materials can now be mixed together into bins, seethrough plastic bags or cardboard boxes, and no longer need to be separated. This is called singlestream recycling, and sorting of materials will occur later in the process.
This new alternating schedule, combined with the move to single-stream recycling, allows the County to run one truck to each household on collection days instead of two in the previous program. Each truck has two compartments, so the two streams of materials set out each week will remain separated and processed appropriately.
How it works:
- Green bin collection will continue to occur every week • Garbage and recycling collection will alternate every other week (one week garbage, the next week recycling)
- Residents can set out two bags/containers of garbage every other week (weight and size restrictions still apply)
- Recycling no longer needs to be separated into different bins. Materials will be sorted later in the process • Excess recyclables can be placed in bins, cardboard boxes or see-through plastic bags
- One truck visits your household each week (instead of two in the previous program) and places items into two separate compartments
Helpful links and information:
The best way to track your collection week is through the Simcoe County Collects App. You can also call 1-800-263-3199 to sign up for weekly phone reminders and alerts. Our 2020 waste calendar was mailed to all County households at the end of January. The calendar includes weekly set-out instructions. For full details about this change to curbside waste collections and why it is happening now, please visit www.simcoe.ca/collectionschange.
“This is an important change to our collection service that will support the environment, restore consistency to collections and help us manage future costs,” said Warden George Cornell. “While frequency of collections for some items are changing, quantities remain the same as residents can set out two bags of garbage on garbage weeks and extra recycling on recycling weeks. We know this is a big change, but we’re joining many other municipalities across Ontario that already offer versions of biweekly waste collections and that have seen benefits as a result of their change.”
These changes do not apply to the cities of Barrie and Orillia. County of Simcoe is composed of sixteen member municipalities and provides crucial public services to County residents in addition to providing paramedic and social services to the separated cities of Barrie and Orillia. Visit our website at simcoe.ca.
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