Recycling and garbage days changing for 3 out of 5 Winnipeg households

Garbage and recycling pickup for roughly threeout offive Winnipeg homes will take place on a new day in October, when new contractors begin collecting household waste.

The city announced Friday that recycling and garbage days will switch for 59 per cent of households, beginning the week of Oct. 2, when Miller Waste Systems and GFL Environmental begin collecting waste as part of a pair of seven-year contracts worth a combined $251 million.

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The change in collection days is only partly due to the new contractors, which replace outgoing firms Emterra Environmental and Progressive Waste Solutions.

Garbage and recycling collection in neighbourhoods at a high risk of arson is moving from Mondays until later in the week to reduce the prospect of waste piling up over the weekend, Winnipeg solid-waste manager Daryl Doubleday said.

Collection in several lower-risk neighbourhoods will be moved to Monday to balance out the schedule, he said.

Winnipeg Police Chief Danny Smyth said that makes sense.

"What was happening in some neighbourhoods, their collection day was on a Monday. So often, their garbage receptacle was sitting full through the weekend," he said, explaining that arson is more common during weekends.

Information about the new collection day will be mailed to all households the week of Sept. 18, city staff said. In the meantime, Winnipeggers can check the city's waste and water websiteto find out if they're affected.

Doubleday also said74,000 householdswill experience additional days between collection dates when the switch takes place.

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty saidit's unclear whether the city will raise property taxes or user fees to cover the cost of the new contract.

"It's costing about eight to 20 bucks more per household, per year. They still haven't given us the answer on how that's being covered," he said.

Browaty said he and his colleagues were told to wait for the city budget to obtain those answers.

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