UPDATED Towns inundated with waste pickup complaints
Aurora, Stouffville councils hold emergency meetings
Aurora Banner
January 11, 2014
By Simon Martin
The wacky winter weather has caused many headaches throughout York Region. Power outages, tree damage and poor road conditions are a few of the problems that residents have been facing.
Add garbage and recycling pick-up to that list, at least in northern York.
The Town of Aurora passed a motion at a special council meeting today for town staff to look into the numerous garbage and recycling pickup delays the town has experienced in recent weeks from contractor GFL Environmental Corp.
Council has been inundated with complaints from residents over the failure of their items to be picked up.
“We want our staff to move forward on this,” Mayor Geoff Dawe said.
Some councillors were concerned not only with the delays but the service GFL exhibited. Councillor Paul Pirri said employees from GFL aren’t picking up items that fall out of the recycling box.
“That is completely unacceptable. Not doing that shows a big problem,” he said.
Mr. Dawe said Aurora along with other municipalities in York Region's northern six grouping are going to take a look at their contract.
According to Aurora staff, GFL has experienced a large backlog and cancelled a day of pick-ups due to cold weather, which has led to some of the delays.
Council waived the usual public motion policy to get the problem heard right away.
Aurora is not alone in questioning the service from Green For Life.
The Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville is holding a special council meeting Tuesday at 9:30 a.m to air out problems with garbage pickup.
In order to catch up on collecting blue box and green bin materials, GFL will add trucks and staff with the “cost borne exclusively by GFL”, said Andrew McNeely, the municipality’s director of planning and building services and interim CAO.
For people with additional organic material to be collected, they can be placed beside the green bin in clear plastic bags.
A maximum of five more garbage bags will also be taken next week to accommodate additional material as a result of these delays
On Jan. 6, the municipality’s customer service department received 525 calls, with about 55 per cent of them related to the lack of recycling and green bin collection. Additional staff were called in to help handle the volume.
From Jan. 7 to 9, between 250 and 350 calls a day were handled by customer service with 85 per cent of them related to collection issues, according to Mr. McNeely.
The Town of Newmarket said it is working with GFL to improve overall service levels and is reviewing the original terms of the contract to ensure that they are being met.
There had been questions about GFL’s service prior to the delays experienced in the Northern 6 this past week.
The Township of King has frequently voiced their displeasure with the level of service from GFL.
In November, Ward 4 Councillor Bill Cober said the problem was so bad that “our waste management situation is a crisis.”
Mayor Steve Pellegrini said the township strives for excellent customer service in King and the simply has not been happening with GFL.
There had been reports of GFL Drivers been rude and belligerent, Ward 1 Councillor Cleve Mortelliti said. Director of engineering and public works for the Township of King Rob Flindall said residents should not talk to drivers. If they have complaints they should call GFL.
On its website, Georgina says it is reviewing the contract with Green for Life "to improve overall service levels and ensure that they are being met". Concerns and questions should be phoned in to 905-476-4301 ext. 2280.
GFL’s contract with the northern six municipalities expires in 2017 but it will be evaluated later this year and the tender process will get underway likely in late 2015. East Gwillimbury is the other municipality in the northern six.
No one from GFL addressed today's meeting. A call to the company was not returned.
