Pilot project could drastically change garbage collection in Oakville, Burlington and Milton

Halton Region is rolling out a pilot project that, if fully implemented could drastically alter the way waste is collected.

The pilot will launch later this year in selected neighbourhoods in Burlington, Oakville, Milton and Halton Hills. In these neighbourhoods larger, wheeled carts will replace the traditional blue and grey boxes. The pick up of garbage and recyclables will then change to every other week.

The program will include 1,800 households and will be re-evaluated after one year when it will be determined if the program is adopted region-wide on a full-time basis.

According to a Halton Region report, the motivation behind any changes will be the ability to make waste collection more efficient. The different-sized wheeled carts will be collected through automation which will reduce the number of staff on the pick-up trucks. A lone driver of the truck will be able to pick up the cart through a lift system that includes an automated arm that can grab and lift the bins.

Automated waste collection has been increasing across the country and has been used successfully in such places as Peel Region for several years.

“Where an Automated Wheeled Cart Collection program has been implemented, costs are also reduced by providing every other week collection of recyclable material and every other week collection of garbage to maximize efficiencies and reduce the cost to purchase
additional collection vehicles,” the report reads. “An automated wheeled cart collection vehicle is also able to service approximately 35 per cent to 40 per cent more households on a daily basis than a collection vehicle performing manual collection of waste material. The rate of
collection employee turnover is also less frequent ensuring consistent levels of service by experienced and knowledgeable collection crews.

The areas where the pilot project will take place are Wards 1 and 6 in Burlington and Wards 4, 6 and 7 in Oakville, Wards 1 and 4 in Milton and Ward 4 in Georgetown.