The Carts Are Rolling Out

Yes, sports fans. The dreaded day has come. Guelph's new recycling bins are now rolling out to the public for their own personal use. Or at least they will be a week from Monday. 

The city sent out a press release on the subject earlier today. Read it (and weep?) for yourself below.*

(*I say weep because I know there's a lot of resistance out there to the new carts, but they're coming and it's real, and maybe it's time to deal. The date is set, the hall is rented, time to see if we can dance.)

First 15,000 households to receive waste carts starting September 24

Carts to be placed at the curb this November for new automated collection

GUELPH, ON, September 13, 2012 – The delivery of Guelph's first green, blue and grey waste carts to one-third of city neighbourhoods, approximately 15,000 households, starts Monday, September 24.

Homes will receive a food scraps container to keep in the kitchen and three carts: an 80-litre green cart for organics, a blue cart for recyclables and a grey cart for garbage. The carts will be used instead of plastic bags to place household waste at the curb for collection. An information package including a user guide and a 2012 to 2014 waste collection schedule will be delivered inside the green cart.

"The carts, through residents' participation, support the City's efforts to produce less waste per capita than any comparable Canadian city and divert 65 per cent of Guelph's waste from landfill by 2016," says Dean Wyman, General Manager of Solid Waste Resources.

Earlier this year, households had the option to select their blue and grey cart size preferences from four options, to suit their needs. To accommodate each customized order, the delivery will take place over a six-week period, ending Friday, November 2. The three carts will arrive at homes separately, on different dates. If a household does not receive all three carts by November 2, they are asked to contact Solid Waste Resources.

At the curb, via the new automated system, the green cart will be collected each week and the blue and grey carts will be collected biweekly, on alternate weeks.

Cart collection begins this November. Depending on the collection schedule a household currently follows, either Week A or B, cart collection starts as early as Monday, November 5.

"The automated system is regarded as a municipal best practice and is faster, more efficient and requires four fewer trucks on Guelph's roads," says Dean Wyman. "This helps decrease Guelph's carbon footprint, contributes to better air quality and generates annual financial savings for the City of approximately $460,000."

As of Monday, September 17, the Solid Waste Resources customer service desk is extending its hours of operation to accommodate residents' phone calls and e-mails throughout the transition to carts. The new hours of operation are Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m.

More information is available on guelph.ca/waste or by contacting Solid Waste Resources by telephone at 519-767-0598 or email at waste@guelph.ca.