Waste collection job fair in Welland
It could be a week before Niagara’s waste and recycling contractor is caught up on garbage collection delays that have plagued it since Christmas.
Niagara Region’s expectation that Emterra Environmental would have the situation dealt with by Sunday night after putting extra weekend crews on the job didn’t pan out.
Allison Tyldesley, the Region’s associate director of collection and diversion operations, said Emterra reported Monday that all of last week’s garbage would be picked up by Monday night — but Monday’s regularly- scheduled pick up would be delayed in some areas.
“Worst case scenario, delays will continue until the weekend,” Tyldesley said. “But that is the extreme contingency. We want them obviously well caught up well before then.”
She said Emterra is trying to get extra trucks and extra staff to overcompensate its fleet to get Niagara back on track. It’s reached out to other contractors that are on the market to see what assistance they can provide and has also looked into borrowing Emterra staff and fleet from other municipalities if those areas aren’t experiencing delays.
Emterra has not responded to requests from the Standard for an interview.
In an emailed statement Monday, the company apologized for the delays and said it’s optimistic it will be back on schedule by the end of the week.
“We understand how frustrating this can be and our goal is to return to promised service levels as quickly as possible,” it said.
The company said it’s holding a job fair in Welland this week in an effort to boost its staffing complement on the heels of the regionwide collection delays. The job fair will be held Thursday from 3 p. m. to 7 p. m. at the Welland Job Gym at 225 East Main St.
Emterra said the shortage of staff was one of the contributing factors in the delay of waste, recycling and organics collection after the holidays. Large volumes of materials placed at the curb during the holiday season also contributed.
Other major factors were weather- related, including materials freezing in the green bins and garbage containers and the heavier than normal snowfalls slowing down the pickups.
As well, the company said temperatures and wind chills of nearly – 30 C impacted the operation of vehicles and its workers.
“Together these have contributed to a perfect storm impacting our service,” the company wrote. “We assure you that, one- by- one, we are working out these issues.”
The delays have hit every area of the region since the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. On Friday, the Region was told the leftover materials would be picked up on Saturday, with crews available to go out Sunday if necessary to finish up.
Tyldesley said at the end of the day Saturday, based on how many crews Emterra had lined up for Sunday, they were in great shape.
“Unfortunately, additional volumes and the cold weather that persisted prevented them from getting it done,” she said. “Emterra assured us on several occasions throughout the day that everything was on track and that didn’t seem to be the case. “Snowballing effect rolls into Monday and now we’re going to see delays unless they can get additional fleet for the remainder of the week.”
Residents should put their materials out at the curb on their regular collection day this week. Tyldesley said if they are not picked up, leave them out at the curb until they are collected.
Most delays will be one business day.
If residents still have materials at the curb from last week that weren’t collected, they are asked to call Niagara Region’s waste info- line at 905- 356- 4141 or 1- 800- 594- 5542, Monday through Friday from 8 a. m. to 5 p. m. to report it.
The Region continued to receive calls from residents about garbage delays Monday, particularly from Thorold and Welland. Residents’ experiences contradicted the information provided to the Region from Emterra Friday that said there were no delays in those areas. The Standard also received emails from residents who said their garbage hadn’t been picked up. Tyldesley said the Region will follow up with Emterra.