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New recycling route off to a rocky start

April 11, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Dear editor:

I am pleased with many of the changes and improvements that have been recently implemented, but I am writing you regarding service delivery. According to written publications from Waste Management residents are currently asked to have their waste “set out at the curb” and “at the end of your driveway”. In the past recycling has been refused pick up along our street in New Tecumseth due to residents placing their bins on the south side of the street at the end of their driveway. Apparently the fact that the truck travels west for pick up and is therefore driving on the north side of the street, bins placed on the south side of the street were considered too inconvenient to pick up. Residents have accommodated this unspoken request/ demand grudgingly with the small consolation being that the collectors placed the empty bins neatly on the shoulder and crossed the road in the winter to retrieve the bins on the south side when there was no effective shoulder on the north side to place the bins on due to road conditions.

Many stretches of our street have small gravel shoulders and deep ditches. The ditch across from the end of our driveway is approximately 9 feet deep and descends at about a 45-degree angle. On our first pick up of the new schedule this week I happened to be outside doing barn chores when the recycling truck went by at 7:30 a.m. The truck stopped for less than 10 seconds and when it pulled away one of our recycling bins was down at the bottom of the ditch and the other was dropped haphazardly half off the edge of the shoulder. There happened to be no wind at all this morning, so the only conclusion that I can reach is that the bins were dropped carelessly. I have worked in many physically demanding industries and I do not believe that it takes any more time or energy to place something down with care and thought than to carelessly drop it. I take care and put thought into sorting and organizing the contents of my bins carefully. If care and thought are too much to ask of a municipal department then we have serious issues to address with our staff.

I do not appreciate having to climb down a slippery spring ditch to retrieve my property that was treated inconsiderately by municipal staff. I am not willing to risk injuring myself on a regular basis to retrieve my recycling bins due to the unmindful actions of municipal staff. I also find it an unacceptable practice when there are many local residents whose ditches are deeper and the residents themselves may in some cases be senior citizens. From this point forward I will be placing my recycling bins as per the directions given in writing from Waste Management which specify that bins are to be “set out at the curb” and “at the end of your driveway”. I have not been able to find any indication of placing waste on a particular side of the street with regard to truck routes in any published directions that list “common reasons for missed (or refused) collections”. My bins will be on the south side of the street at the end of my driveway even if the waste management truck is travelling west on the north side of the road. If my bins are refused (as they occasionally were in the past) I will bag the contents and deliver it to a town or county office of my choice for the staff there to deal with.

As an additional note I happened to pull out of our driveway at 8:15 a.m. (which incidentally coincides with the time when many of our local elementary students are being picked up by the school bus) when two waste trucks were travelling back east along our street and using my speedometer I determine that they were travelling at 75 km/h, which is 15 km/h over the posted speed limit of 60 km/h. 8:15 a.m. is a time which incidentally coincides with the time when many of our local elementary students are being picked up by the school bus.

I hope, for the safety of all residents, that the start of this new collection schedule will not be indicative of future collections.

David Kennedy

New Tecumseth

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