New waste collection schedule in Simcoe County starts next week

A new curbside waste collection schedule will go into effect in Simcoe County on Feb. 3.

Garbage and recycling collection will be on alternating weeks, while green bin collection will continue weekly.

Collection days will not change, but collection times will be adjusted, according to Simcoe County officials.

“This is an important change to our collection service that will support the environment, restore consistency to collections and help us manage future costs,” Simcoe County Warden George Cornell said in a statement.

“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.”

Officials say changes to collection frequency will support the environment by growing the county’s green bin program, encouraging a reduction in single-use materials and helping to lower emissions with fewer trucks on the road each day.

According to officials, the changes will also help restore consistency to the county’s collection service.

Officials say recycling materials can now be mixed together into bins, see-through plastic bags or cardboard boxes, and no longer need to be separated. This is called single-stream recycling, and the sorting of materials will occur later on in the process.

The new schedule:

• 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
• Moving forward, collection will rotate on the alternating schedule

“We know this is a big change, but we’re joining many other municipalities across Ontario that already offer versions of bi-weekly waste collections and that have seen benefits as a result of their change,” Cornell said in the statement.

The changes in waste collection don’t apply to the cities of Barrie and Orillia.

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