Council passes Mayor’s request to waive minimum fees on leaf and yard waste

Council decided to waive the minimum fee for leaf and yard waste that is less than 150 kilograms. This is equal to about 30 bags of leaf and yard waste.

The Mayor acknowledged that managing leaf and yard waste is more expensive today with the new provincial requirements on how to handle and compost the materials. He also noted that there has been significant progress with the implementation of the City’s Waste Management Strategy and he wanted to encourage residents to continue recycling. “We didn’t want to discourage the average resident from recycling leaf and yard waste. The reduction in fees will affect our budget, but we felt this was a fair alternative to the minimum charge,” explained Mayor Andy Letham.

Staff noted that record levels of residents visited landfills over the Easter weekend, with the Lindsay Ops landfill recording 420 visits. Staff is looking at ways to get cars through the scales sooner and reducing the minimum fee should assist with the wait times.

The public is reminded to use only paper bags for leaf and yard curbside collection. Please do not place leaves in clear bags. Clear bags do not decompose and cannot be mixed with yard compost. The next City-wide curbside collection is June 2 (for Tuesday and Thursday regular collection days) and June 16 (for Monday and Wednesday regular collection days). All residents that receive curbside waste collection will receive curbside leaf and yard collection on these dates.

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For more information please contact:

Cheri Davidson
Manager of Communications, Advertising and Marketing
705-324-9411 extension 1355
cdavidson@city.kawarthalakes.on.ca