New garbage rules start Monday

The garbage bag limit for single-family households throughout Waterloo Region changes as of Monday, October 17.

It means residents can only put out three garbage bags instead of four.

The region's manager of waste collection and diversion said in a previous interview, most people were already below the limit before the change was even announced.

“Roughly 90 per cent of households are already within the bag limit,” Dave Johnstone said. “The goal for the remainder is to encourage them to recycle and use the green bins for compost.”

A recent audit found 60 per cent of items that were found in garbage bags locally could have gone into a recycling or green bin.

You can find out more on what can and can't be recycled on the region's Waste Whiz app, or at regionofwaterloo.ca. 

For residents that need to put out more than three bags of garbage, tags can be purchased for $2 on the region's website.

— With files from Matt Betts – CambridgeToday.ca