Already decades behind other cities in Ontario, the launch of weekly curbside organic waste collection in London is being pushed back another year.
In Feb. 2020, city council approved the budget for a green bin program that divides residential waste into three separate containers: compostables (green bin), recyclables (blue box) and garbage.
Initially slated for fall 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic pushed back the launch date to this summer.
However, there’s been another delay.
Now city staff anticipate green bins won’t roll out until sometime between July 2023 and Oct. 2023 — hopefully.
“I have to work with just a hopeful timeline,” admitted Jay Stanford, director of climate change, environment, and waste.
Stanford’s report to the Civic Works Committee points to an ongoing parts shortage affecting the delivery of 26 collection trucks ordered by the city.
Only 13 truck chassis have firm dates when they’ll be sent to the manufacturer. The build dates for the remaining trucks however remains uncertain.
“I really hate using that word ‘hopeful,’ but we know 13 trucks will be here next year, but we need to have at least 80 per cent of the vehicles available to roll out a program for all of London,” explained Stanford.
This latest delay means London remains the largest community in Ontario without a green bin organic waste program.
Stanford says the additional delay won’t impact expanding the city’s landfill or London’s climate change targets.
Over the next year while the city awaits the fleet of trucks, the civic administration will secure the other necessary elements of the green bin program.
“Now we are going to go to the marketplace for the processing of the green bin material, and we’re going to go to the marketplace for the actual green bin itself,” he said.
The launch date will be refined this September when the truck manufacturer updates its 2023 build schedule.
Councilors on the Civic Works Committee will receive a report about the delay next week.