County thanks residents for successful first year of automated cart collection

On the one-year anniversary since the start of the automated cart collection service, the County of Simcoe would like to thank residents for helping to make the cart system such a success.

“Over the past 12 months, the County has asked residents to work with us as we introduced significant changes to modernize and improve our waste collection system,” said Warden George Cornell. “I speak for County councillors from our 2018 to 2022 term and staff in expressing our gratitude to all our residents for adapting to this significant change. After one year of automated carts, we’re seeing a number of benefits, including improved consistency, reported increases in resident satisfaction and convenience, and growth in our green cart organics capture rates, which is a pleasant surprise. We know there’s still tweaks to work out, and I’m confident that our staff and the next Council will continue to listen and support all our residents. Thank you, Simcoe County!”

One-year checkup on automated cart collection:

Eighty-eight per cent of residents who completed our recent waste survey reported that they are either satisfied or very satisfied with the new automated cart collection. Of these satisfied residents:

• 74% like the increased capacity 
• 69% like how easy carts are to move 
• 68% like lids 
• 42% like the consistency of collection service 
Growing diversion and helping the environment: 
• 75% of residents indicate that they are using their green cart all the time 
• 2% increase in green cart (organics) tonnage collected (Jan – Sept 2022 versus 2021) 
• 1 % increase in blue cart (recycling) tonnage collected (Jan – Sept 2022 versus 2021)

Calls or emails reported as “concerns or complaints” to the Service Simcoe Contact Centre have decreased by 59 per cent from 2021 to 2022 and 79 per cent when looking at August 2021 versus August 2022.

Delays in collection and missed routes (due to circumstances not related to weather or road impacts) almost never occur and the new four-day collection week allows for Miller Waste, the County’s contracted collection service provider, to return to larger missed areas on Fridays (reducing the time residents have to wait should delays occur on regular collection days).

Eighty-nine per cent of residents who completed our waste survey indicate that they are satisfied or very satisfied with communications about waste collection, including on-going use of our free Simcoe County Collects app.

County staff successfully provided cart size exchanges for six per cent of our serviced units who preferred smaller carts for their household waste needs once cart exchanges launched in 2022. Cart exchanges can continue to be made with a $50 administration fee at www.carts.simcoe.ca or by calling 1-800-263-3199.

To view the One-Year Anniversary of Automated Cart Collection video, which features a huge thank you to County residents, visit https://youtu.be/Lzf0TNYBdzo.