UPDATE: Dozens of Orillia streets missed by new recycling company

UPDATE (4:20 p.m.)

The head of Circular Materials says their service provider has caught up and is back on track in Orillia.

“We’ve confirmed with our service provider, Emterra, that all recycling pick-ups scheduled for Monday in Orillia have been completed. Pickups scheduled for today (Tuesday, Jan. 6) will be completed by this evening or first thing tomorrow morning, dependent on weather,” Allen Langdon, CEO of Circular Materials told OrilliaMatters in an emailed statement issued at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

“Residents are asked to please leave their recycling out to support pick up,” he added.

“Minor delays to recycling collection on certain streets in Orillia were caused by the heavy snowfall on Monday and freezing rain on Tuesday. Emterra has deployed additional trucks to support recycling collection in the midst of this inclement weather. We thank residents for their patience,” said Langdon.

ORIGINAL STORY:

The new provincial household recycling program is off to a rough start as at least 43 streets in Orillia didn’t get their regularly scheduled pickup on Friday and Monday.

The city posted on its Facebook page that seven streets were missed Monday, but under the post were 121 comments listing 36 more that didn’t get recycling pickup.

The city reports the following streets did not have recyclables picked up Monday:

Christine Place
Dunn Avenue
Park Street
Westmount Drive (south of Barrie Road)
Rose Avenue
Progress Drive
Memorial Avenue South

But residents quickly weighed in to say many other streets were missed.

“It missed a lot more streets than that. Guess the new company isn’t so great. The garbage trucks made it OK,” Rilla Gammon-Todd wrote on the city’s Facebook page.

“Guess with the weather and them being so new to the area, we may have to call this one … training day … this time,” wrote Rob Beavis.

Pete Bowen wrote, “Weather was no excuse as garbage and Christmas trees were picked up.”

Michelle Robertson wanted to know if the city would be contacting Emterra on residents’ behalf.

“It seems … the city is just passing the buck by telling us to call a company that doesn’t appear interested in picking up the phone.”

Comments on the post added Driftwood Road and Oxford Street as being missed Friday. Comments citing missed streets on Monday include:

Dunlop Street
Lakeview Avenue (east side)
Mississaga Street West
Victoria Street
Esther Anne Drive
Karen Crescent
Frederick Street
Mary Street
Albany Avenue
Ashton Street
Cedarmore Road
Courtney Crescent
Carlton Street
Village Green complex
George Street
Lakeview Avenue
Invermara Court
Rosemary Road
Argyle Avenue
Powley Street
Colborne Street
Brandon Crescent
Quinn Avenue
Wyandotte Street
Albert Street
Laclie Street
Dallas Street
Louise Lane
Grenville Avenue
Cindy Lee Crescent
Clinton Street
Charles Road
Walker Avenue complex

“With a new collection contractor, Emterra, poor winter weather and some mechanical issues that Emterra has had, recycling collection has been delayed,” explained Greg Preston, the city’s director of environmental services.

“Emterra is aware of the collection routes and has mapping of the city,” Preston told OrilliaMatters.

Asked if Emterra has enough trucks to manage the route, Preston said that question should be directed to Emterra.

On Jan. 1, the new producer responsibility program began, whereby producers of products now bear the cost of household recyclables rather than the municipality.

This move is saving the City of Orillia $1.8 million this year. The goal is to make producing companies create less packaging, recyclable packaging, and recyclable packaging that can be remade and, therefore, be profitable.

“It benefits the circular economy. Under the old system, there was no incentive for product producers to make decisions that had recycling of that product in mind,” Preston said in an earlier interview with OrilliaMatters.

Under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, recyclable materials are harmonized across the province rather than being different in each community, making knowledge of what is recyclable easier for people who travel, he said.

Circular Materials, a national non-profit organization, is managing the program across the province. In Orillia and Simcoe County, Emterra Group has the contract for blue box material pickup.

However, it’s the first week Emterra has taken over the collection of blue and grey boxes in municipalities across the province.

It’s coming at time when Orillia has been hit with a near-record snowfall in December (173 centimetres) and lots more already this month, so snow banks are high and roads are narrow and often snow covered.

The collection of green bin materials and garbage remains with the city contractor, Mid-Ontario Disposal.

Residents who have a problem or have questions about recycling should call Emterra, said Preston.

A call and an email to Emterra from OrilliaMatters were not returned by deadline. Callers receive a recorded message rather than a staff operator. The website, emterra.ca, has a form people can fill out for customer service. The email is [email protected]. The phone number is 1-888-597-1541.

The city post asks the public to continue to put out recyclables before 7 a.m.

“Thank you for your patience and understanding,” notes the social media post.