Love your green cart?
If so, you’ll be happy to know that Halton is studying an automated method of collecting garbage and recycling that could eventually bring you black and blue bins too.
Beginning this fall, about 700 Oakville households will take part in a pilot project testing out the wheeled bins and automated pickup system.
The system – currently used in Mississauga, Toronto and other municipalities – features large, coloured bins that are picked up and emptied by automated arms on collection trucks.
In comparison to manual pickup, the automated system cuts costs and reduces staff injuries.
Trucks can be operated by a single employee and can service 35 to 40 per cent more households in a day than a traditional two-employee manual pick-up vehicle, according to a report from Halton regional staff.
The bins cut down on windblown litter from open blue boxes and the region hopes the larger sizes will also encourage waste diversion.
“These are very desirable outcomes for all of us and I look forward to working with residents to make it a success,” says Councillor Tom Adams, who represents about 270 Ward 6 residents who will try out the new system.
The effectiveness of the system will be studied during the $1.1 million year-long pilot project, which will include about 1,800 urban, rural, small lot and recently built single-family homes in Halton.
The region is studying three sizes of recycling carts. The smallest is equivalent to two blue boxes while the largest is equivalent to four blue boxes.
Two sizes of garbage carts will be distributed, with the smaller cart able to hold 1-2 bags and the larger able to hold 3-4 bags.
Radio frequency identification tags will be used to collect information about the use and movement of carts.
A recent regional survey found Halton residents divided on the merits of an automated system, with some concerned about the size and storage needs for the wheeled carts.
“The whole reason we’re doing the pilot is so we can work through people’s concerns that they may have. They may pan out to be not as bad as they may think, and others may be actually as bad as they think,” Andrew Farr, commissioner of public works, told Halton regional councillors at their March 22 meeting.
Selected properties will be contacted by the region in June with information about the pilot. Carts will be delivered next fall with collection to begin in October.
Participating Oakville areas:
- 200 northwest Oakville households on Greenwich Drive, Alstep Way and Quetico Crescent
- 250 North Oakville households on Grindstone Trail, George Ryan Avenue and Silver Maple Road, between Postridge Drive and Eighth Line
- 270 northeast households on Bayshire Drive, Shaftesbury Court, Rockingham Drive, Creekwood Trail, PineValley Crescent and Joshua Creek Drive.