Effective May 6, rural residents in the Town of Erin will be offered curbside collection of bagged garbage and blue box recyclables every other Thursday.
There are no bag limits for pick up through the curbside collection program, and the range of items in the county’s blue box pick up is comprehensive.
This service improvement was endorsed by county council on Nov. 23 and is part of the county’s overall waste management plan.
County of Wellington user-pay bags are available for purchase at a variety of local distributors, all county-owned waste facilities and the county administration centre in Guelph. Information on the curbside collection program and a list of local businesses selling user-pay bags is available at www.wellington.ca.
Residents are to place recyclables in two blue boxes, one for containers, including plastics and glass jugs, tubs, jars, cans, etc.; and one for paper products, including Newspapers, magazines, catalogues, paper egg cartons, etc. For a complete list of recyclables, visit www.wellington.ca.
The Hillsburgh Transfer Station will be closing permanently on May 1. The County of Wellington’s environmental consultant, SNC Lavalin, has recommended since 2001 that activity cease at the Hillsburgh Transfer Station, a former landfill, to limit the negative environmental impact.
Members of the 2000-03 county council planned to develop a full-service transfer station in Erin, but in 2004 this project was dismissed due to community opposition.
“We’re very please to introduce this higher level of service,” county Warden Joanne Ross-Zuj said. “In addition to being more convenient for ratepayers, this upgraded service will allow us to take the Hillsburgh Transfer Station out of operation and decommission the site to ensure it remains environmentally sound.”
Councillor Bob Wilson, Chair of the County’s Solid Waste Services Committee, added, “The county is currently in discussion with local organizations about the feasibility of them creating a reuse centre located in the Town of Erin.
“A reuse centre would provide a location for community members to recycle a wide variety of re-usable items.”
As the date of the closure approaches, staff will make a concerted effort to inform residents of the new changes to service and answer questions about the expanded curbside collection program in the Town of Erin. Urban residents in the town will continue to receive weekly bagged garbage and blue box curbside collection every Thursday.
For a related story, see page 35 of this week’s Wellington Advertiser.
