KENILWORTH – Wellington North council has signed an agreement with Wellington County for weekly garbage collection in downtown Arthur and Mount Forest.
The Mount Forest Business Improvement Association (BIA) previously asked the township for more frequent collection, as the association sought solutions to mounting garbage issues.
According to a Jan. 15 report to council from township economic develop officer Dale Small, Centre Wellington has also experienced similar issues in downtown Fergus and Elora.
That township has since entered an agreement with the county to increase pickups to a weekly basis, including those weeks when regularly scheduled pickups don’t occur.
Waste Management, the county’s service provider, proposed an additional annual cost of $12,480 to service Wellington North’s downtowns on weeks when regular pickup was not already scheduled. That breaks down to $480 each week, over 26 weeks, Small noted his report.
Councillors supported paying for the cost of increasing from biweekly to a weekly collection in a first-year pilot.
Waste Management will bill the county monthly, and the county will bill Wellington North near the end of the year.
Because the service will start in March, the cost for 2024 is expected to be $10,000.
Small noted the township could tap into a $25,000 Wellington County Business Retention and Expansion program as a potential funding source.
If respective downtown BIAs see a benefit to the pilot, they will have to budget to continue the service in 2025.
Councillor Sherry Burke said the pilot is a good investment and will relieve the township’s public works staff from having to fill the gap between downtown garbage pickups.
“Garbage and garbage collection has been an issue on the Main Street in Mount Forest, so I anticipate probably similar things are happening in Arthur,” Burke said.
She explained residents living downtown above commercial units don’t have room to store waste until garbage trucks come around, and have used road-level garbage bins to dispose of household waste.
Money well spent
“It’s money well worth spent,” councillor Penny Renken commented.
Council accepted the plan, and additional weekly collection will take place on Thursdays, according to Small’s report.
In Mount Forest the area for pickup will range from Queen Street (at the south) to Birmingham Street (at the north).
In Arthur, the area will range from Fredrick Street (at the north) to Eliza Street (at the south).
