Last chance for yard waste collection in Cambridge and Waterloo
Posted Nov 25, 2019 05:15:00 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Yard-keepers all throughout Waterloo Region were given a surprise early in November when their yard waste was buried in snow.
With the snow just melting within the last week, that has many people on a time-crunch to participate in regional or city-run yard waste collection programs.
Regional yard-waste collection for townships and Kitchener ended last week, while collection for Cambridge and Waterloo ends this week.
So, what can you do if you miss the pickup?
In Kitchener, you can still drop off leaves (with no bags whatsoever) at any one of these leaf drop-off sites until December 13.
For any other yard waste, you can bring it to the regional drop-off anytime of the year, which will cost you a minimum of five dollars.
Cari Rastas-Howard is the supervisor for communications and programs with the Region of Waterloo's waste management division.
She explained that, if you decide to leave yard waste out on the curb after your pickup date, it's going to go into the landfill.
“If you just have one or two bags and you still want to put them out, even though the program is done, residents can put them out on their regular garbage collection day,” said Rastas-Howard. “They will then go into the garbage, into the landfill, and they will count toward their garbage bag limit.”
Why can't the leaves be composted to the same location as green bin products?
“Our green bin material actually goes to a different place than our yard waste material,” explained Rastas-Howard. “The Region is able to compost all the leaves and yard waste ourselves, and it's actually cheaper than what we'd pay for the green bin composting. If we were to put all the leaves in with the green bin, it would cost us a significant amount of money.”
With that being said, Rastas-Howard says it is acceptable to put some leaves into your green bin as long as they fit.
If none of these options appeal to you, you can use leaves as natural compost on your lawn by mulching them.
You can also wait until the spring when regional yard waste collection starts up again.
