Photo from Norfolk County's social media page
Norfolk County has moved to a new waste collection system designed to make curbside collection more efficient while diverting more household waste away from the landfill.
The new program begins today (Monday) and will introduce automated waste collection, along with new garbage and organics carts.
Under the new system, residents should have already received two carts: a grey cart for garbage and a green cart for organic waste.
Residents will continue to use their existing recycling containers, with recycling collected weekly.
Organic waste and recycling will be collected every week, while garbage will be collected every other week.
All carts and recycling containers must be at the road by 7 a.m. on collection day and should be brought back in by 7 p.m.
Supervisor of Waste Management Merissa Bokla says the new carts are designed to work with automated collection trucks, meaning residents will need to place them properly at the curb.
The arrow on the cart lid should face the street, with the wheels toward the house.
Residents should leave about two feet, or 60 centimetres, between carts and other objects such as trees, vehicles, recycling boxes and fire hydrants.
Cart lids must be fully closed, and all material must fit inside the cart.
That means residents should be planning ahead now and starting to use the green carts, so they can ensure they have enough room in their grey carts as the new system kicks off next week.
The reason for the change in garbage collection is multi-factor.
The county’s current waste collection contract, which has been in place since 2017, expires at the end of the month and required the county to look at options moving forward.
Additionally, recent waste audits found that roughly 40 to 45 per cent of household garbage could potentially be diverted through organic waste collection.
This is important to know as landfills across the province are reaching capacity.
Bolka said the province also asked municipalities with populations over 50,000 to have a food waste program in place to divert material away from landfills.
The new green cart will allow residents to place food scraps and other accepted organic material at the curb instead of putting it in the garbage.
Accepted materials include fruits and vegetables, bread, pasta, rice, meat and bones, fish and seafood, dairy products, eggshells, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, leftovers and other food scraps.
Food-soiled paper products such as napkins, paper towels, paper muffin liners and paper plates can also go into the green cart, along with some other materials such as sawdust, wood chips, hair and pet fur.
Items including diapers, pet waste, kitty litter, plastic bags, yard waste, soil, toilet paper and textiles are not accepted in the organics cart.
Each green cart will also contain a seven-litre kitchen container to make it easier for residents to collect food scraps inside their homes before transferring them to the green cart.
Residents can line the kitchen container with newspaper or approved, certified compostable bags.
Norfolk County says accepted compostable bags must display a recognized certification logo, such as BPI or BNQ.
Residents can check their new collection schedule through Norfolk County’s online collection schedule tool.
More information about the new waste collection program, including cart placement, accepted materials and collection schedules, is available through Norfolk County.
