As landscaping companies and garden centres begin reopening this week, the City says regular yard waste collection will also resume.
The start of seasonal yard waste collection was suspended in March as part of the City’s response to COVID-19 to ensure there would be enough workers to maintain the collection of regular garbage. The City said collection temporarily resumed over the past four weeks, and over the weekend officials announced it will be allowed to continue on a regular basis.
READ: Select Ontario Businesses Can Begin Reopening Today
This comes as select Ontario businesses, including garden centres and nurseries that offer curbside pick-up and delivery and lawn care, as well as landscaping companies in the province are set to resume some operations beginning May 4.
"We are doing everything we can to help residents during this time," said Mayor John Tory. "We know many people rely on yard waste collection and I’m proud we can continue to provide this important service during the ongoing emergency – the numbers clearly show it is a popular service right now for residents staying home as much as possible to fight COVID-19."
The City says it has seen increased levels of yard waste as residents stay home during the COVID-19 pandemic and as of April 25, crews had collected 11,000 tonnes of yard waste; 3,100 tonnes more than what had been collected by this time last year.
Regular garbage and blue box collection, meanwhile, has remained relatively stable, the City said.
Residents are being asked to put their waste out before 7 am on their regularly scheduled garbage and yard waste collection day. If it is not picked up the day it is put out, the City is asking residents to leave it out until its collected and refrain from calling 311 to report a missed collection.
