On the first collection day of its new waste collection service, the City of Peterborough is reporting strong uptake of the use of green bins for organic waste as well as clear bags for garbage.
In a media release issued Tuesday (October 31), the city says around 85 per cent of eligible households in collection zone one of the city placed green bins at the curb for pick up, and around 80 per cent of households used clear bags for their garbage. Zone one encompasses a large portion of the city centre, including a portion of downtown Peterborough (but excluding the Downtown Business Improvement Area) and an area north and west of the downtown.
The city says some residents who did not put out their green bin on Tuesday told waste collection workers they were holding onto their bins until the following week to accumulate more organic waste.
“Congratulations Peterborough,” says city councillor Gary Baldwin, chair of the city’s waste management portfolio, in a media release. “Today we are a greener community thanks to the remarkable uptake of the new green bin program and garbage collection changes. We’re diverting more waste from the landfill, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving workers safety,”
“These are big changes for our community, and it’s going to take some time for everyone to get into a new routine. We appreciate everyone’s efforts and will continue to support residents as they learn the new waste management expectations.”
Those expectations include only using clear bags for garbage, with garbage bins or pails no longer accepted. For a single detached home or a multi-residential property with six or fewer units, a maximum of four clear garbage bags can be put out for garbage collection, which now occurs every other week instead of weekly. Each clear bag can contain up to three “privacy bags” (opaque bags) which are no larger than 25 litres (5.5 gallons), but the total weight of each bag cannot exceed 13.6 kg (30 lbs).
Green bins need to be placed near the curb with the arrows on the bin pointing towards the street. As green bins are collected using a mechanical truck arm, a minimum space of over half a metre (two feet) is required between the bin and other items, including blue boxes and garbage bags.
The first collection day for green bins was not without hiccups. One city resident posted a photo on Facebook of a green bin that he says was damaged when it was lifted by the mechanical arm. The reason the bin was damaged is not known.
The city will continue waste collection for the rest of the week, with collection in zones three and four on Wednesday, zones five and six on Thursday, and zones seven and eight on Friday. Around 8,200 households have new collection days. Residents can use the online tool at peterborough.ca/mycollectionday to confirm their collection day.
