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Residents express concerns over upcoming waste management changes

July 9, 2020   ·   0 Comments

Many seniors living on Greenbriar Road are concerned about Simcoe County’s new waste management process that’s going into effect later this year.

Ward 4 Councillor Fran Sainsbury said since last week she’s been getting calls and emails about the new format of waste management, which uses larger garbage bins that will be lifted into waste trucks mechanically using a forklift mechanism.

“I don’t know whether they’re going to change the system, but I’m not sure that they took into account some of the condominium settings that were built many years ago where the roads are 21.5 feet wide and there’s a tree on every lawn, which are terribly mature,” she said.

“I’m not sure the height of the forks on the lift and so on will work in Greenbriar Road.”

Sainsbury told The Times apart from the logistics of actually collecting trash under the new system, the sheer size of the new waste collection bins will cause problems as well.

“There’s no way a little tiny lady, about 4’7 can go down a sloped driveway in the dead of winter with a frozen bucket [garbage bin] full of stuff, where the bucket is a big as the person,” she said. “Hauling it up empty won’t be easy either, up the slope of an icy driveway.”

There’s also concerns that storage of the new large bins will interfere with the capacity of resident’s garages, according to Sainsbury.

“There’s not enough room for those huge containers in the very small garages that we have in Greenbriar and they’re going to be very heavy for senior citizens,” she explained.

“Because of condominium regulations, you can’t store them outdoors, so that means your garage is going to be for garbage bins from now on instead of automobiles and we’re really concerned about that.”

Mayor Milne said in addition to Sainsbury, all of Council has been getting phone calls and emails expressing concerns about the new garbage containers.

He asked the Town’s clerk to add the item for discussion at New Tecumseth’s next Council meeting on July 20.

By Sam Odrowski
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

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