Toronto will pick up yard waste until at least May 1 after earlier service suspension

City briefly halted service in March to focus on essential services amid COVID-19 outbreak

Cbc.ca
April 16, 2020

The City of Toronto says it will continue picking up yard waste from residents for another two weeks after the service was suspended last month due to COVID-19 concerns.

The collection period will be extended from April 20 to May 1, the city said in a news release.

Crews stopped picking up yard waste in March so that the city could focus its resources on essential services as the number of COVID-19 continued to rise.

They restarted for a two-week trial period that began on April 6, and now the city says it has the capacity to continue until the start of May.

"In the last nine days, the city has collected approximately 5,700 tonnes of yard waste. After these additional two weeks, the city will assess if it can continue," the news release said.

Residents are asked to put out their yard waste before 7 a.m. on their regularly scheduled pickup day, preferably in the proper bag, if possible.

If a collection day is missed, leave it out until its picked up on another day. There is no need to contact 311, the city said.