Editor's note: The County of Simcoe is not responsible for waste collection in Barrie, so this does not affect city residents.
Waste collection for Simcoe County residents will be changing in 2021, but the main question is: will the changes be toward automation, or stay manual?
County councillors considered five different options for the new waste collection request for proposals (RFP) during the last council meeting of 2019 on Wednesday, and were encouraged to pick which options they prefer to put out to tender.
At the end of discussion, councillors decided to put out the request for proposals on two options.
The first option would have organics picked up weekly, with garbage and recycling being picked up every other week on an alternating schedule. Recycling would be merged into a single stream for pick up and separated later. A four-day per week collection schedule would be used.
The second option would be the same schedule as the first, but utilizing automated trucks that lift standardized bins using a hydraulic lift arm.
“We wanted to be responsible in terms of the complexity of the RFP we put out there and to encourage as many bidders as we can and responsible bids to come forward,” said Warden George Cornell. “Yes, there will be change for our residents, but there will also be a benefit to the county as a whole and residents.”
Many factors went into the decision to put out tenders under these criteria. The factor at the top of the list being a means to ease some of the challenges the county is currently facing in regards to labour shortages and delayed pick up that have been occurring since the summer, with no end in sight to the struggle.
To read our full coverage on current waste delays, click here.
The county is hoping switching to bi-weekly collection for garbage and recycling will help increase diversion rates, leave a lighter carbon footprint and address the labour shortage issue.
“We do a great job with recycling in the county, when we look what’s actually in a garbage bag, but there’s a heck of a lot of organics. Both of the options we’re pursuing now have the ability to really divert more of that material because residents really don’t want that sitting around for two weeks,” said Rob McCullough, director of solid waste management.
Both RFPs will also offer bidders the option to bid on the county contract either as a whole, or half of the county, which will be split into east and west zones.
County council also plans to have a waste management strategy workshop in 2020 to go over some of their concerns prior to choosing a contract. County staff is expected to report back to council in February 2020 with the outcome of the RFP process.
