Waste collection woes continue in Bradford

Last week, Bradford residents were yet again left frustrated after their waste was not picked up as scheduled on Thursday. 

Many parts of Bradford were not serviced, with collection dates moved to Friday and Saturday.

"The waste pickup issues are very concering, and our residents deserve better," noted Mayor Rob Keffer. "The Municipal Act mandates the County to have exclusive responsibilities for solid waste management."

Unfortunately, the contractor, Waste Connections Canada, has been having staffing issues as of late, and last week it was not only Bradford but Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Innisfil, Midland and Angus having problems with their pickups.

Simcoe County is currently renegotiating with the current provider in hopes of addressing the ongoing issues.

Due to the increase in online shopping, it has had an impact on the increased amount of cardboard recycling, which requires more trips to offload the trucks, causing delays. 

"I wasn’t happy having to leave my recycling out for two extra days outside," said one resident who did not want to be named.  She noted that the only benefit to the delay was being able to add any additional recycling to the already existing pile she had outside. 

"I did like that I was able to add more recycling that didn’t have to sit around," said the resident. 

"We apologize for the interruptions and delays to waste collection services in our communities.  We know waste is an essential service and our collection crews have been working throughout the pandemic to ensure that residents waste is collected and off our streets," said Rob McCullough, Director of Solid Waste Management for the County of Simcoe. 

McCullough acknowledged there have been some delays over the summer months, as waste volumes remain high and collection crews are being impacted by enhanced pandemic precautions.

"Our collection contractor (Waste Connections) continues to have difficulty hiring and maintaining sufficient staffing levels given the pre-existing truck driver shortages linked with the labour intensive nature of the position in all forms of weather.  These staffing level issues are compounded with necessary absences due to COVID-19 precautions," he said.

"We are happy to report that we are working on solutions with our current waste collection provider and anticipate improvements to collection consistency for our residents moving forward, this will include collection the next day or Saturday if collections are impacted on regularly scheduled days."

The County communicates all information through the Simcoe County Collects app, which is free to download on the App Store or GooglePlay. They also post on their website and link back to their notices from social media.

"We look forward to our new contract with another vendor starting November 2021. This new system will bring added convenience and increased consistency to labour needs due to the switch to automated cart collection," said McCullough.