WINNIPEG – Trash is piling up and both BFI and Emterra collection crews are having a hard time keeping up.
City councillors are losing patience with Winnipeg’s primary garbage collector, Emterra, and are starting to talk about cancelling the company’s five-year contract.
Emterra missed 16,000 garbage and 15,000 recycling pickups across the city in 2013, the firm’s first full year of service.
The city might have given Emterra a pass while it worked out its growing pains, but Coun. John Orlikow said time is up.
“It would be irresponsible of the city, based on the service we’ve provided, not to start exploring different options right now,” said Orlikow.
Cancelling the remainder of the contract could be a possibility.
“Council has the power to do just about anything … Council can always have discussions on it,” said Mayor Sam Katz.
Emterra’s competition, BFI, is also having collection problems.
The garbage is piling up by the day down one back lane in the West End and residents are getting fed up after waiting as long as five weeks to have their waste collected.
“Week after week we drag out our garbage, it doesn’t get picked up and we bring it in at night,” said Elaine Moar, who has been waiting five weeks for BFI to pickup her trash.
Neither Emterra nor BFI returned Global’s request for an interview.
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