Windsor residents mixed on decision to nix alleyway garbage collection

Some Windsor, Ont., residents say they're skeptical about Monday's city council decision to end nearly all alley garbage collection starting April 1 next year.

One resident told CBC she believes switching to curbside pickup will leave her street looking like garbage.

"I think it's going to cause the rodents, the skunks and all that to cause more of a mess out front," said Walkerville resident Trisha-Mae Tousignant.

Trisha-Mae Tousignant said she's worried that switching to curb-side garbage pickup will result in people's front yards looking as trashy as the alley currently does. (Jennifer LaGrassa/CBC)

Neely Ducré, who lives on Langlois Avenue, said it makes little difference to her whether she brings her garbage to the front or back of her home, and curbside pickup worked fine when she lived in LaSalle.

But, she said, she's not sure whether it will work as well in her neighbourhood in Windsor.

Neely Ducré said curbside garbage pickup worked fine when she lived in LaSalle, but she's not sure how it will go in a busier neighbourhood with cars parked everywhere. (Jennifer LaGrassa/CBC)

"This is a very busy city," she said. "Everybody parks on the street, as you can clearly see. So collecting the garbage off the curb might just be a bigger challenge that they don't need."

Council voted on Monday to end garbage collection in all but around 10 per cent of the 219 alleys where it currently takes place.

Under the new collection contract, the city would've paid a premium of $576,875 to offer waste pickup and the new, provincially-mandated organic waste collection program to all alleys currently serviced.

With the minimum level of alley service the city has approved, there's no additional cost to the city, a staff report notes.

But the city's manager of environmental services told CBC, saving money wasn't the only reason to make the change.

Alleyway collection challenged by overgrowth, fences, snow

"A lot of challenges we find in the alleys is, number one … the overgrowth," said Anne-Marie Albidone.

"When you're driving a big garbage truck … it does become, actually, a safety issue."

Encroachment from fences and other structures also poses a hazard, she said.

Moreover, the alleys were not designed to withstand garbage trucks as heavy as today's vehicles, resulting in damage.

Windsor Manager of Environmental Services Anne-Marie Albidone said the shift toward curbside pickup is happening for a number of reasons, including lack of snow-clearing in some alleys. (Jennifer LaGrassa/CBC)

And many are not included in snow-clearing programs, meaning that the garbage trucks at times struggle to get through them after a heavy snowfall.

The alleys that will continue to receive garbage collection after April 1, 2025 will be those located in business improvement areas and those that are wider and, thus, more accessible than the neighbouring roads.

Albidone rejected concerns that curbside pickup would lead to more trash on people's front lawns.

"Most of the city, we're collecting curb-front, not in an alley," she said.

Pilot project participants divided over curbside collection 

"It's not like we see an exorbitant amount of litter around the entire city on garbage collection day."

She also assured residents like Ducré that contractors are currently collecting garbage on many streets that have alternate-side parking and are trained and expected to work around parked cars.

The move to switch to curbside garbage collection follows a pilot project involving 178 residences on four streets near Jackson Park.

The 31 participants who responded to a post-pilot survey were almost evenly divided in their feelings about it, according to a report to council prepared by Albidone.

Windsor city Coun. Mark McKenzie said he won't support the switch to curbside garbage collection until the city consults residents. (Kathleen Saylors/CBC)

Fifty-two per cent said they found curbside pickup more cumbersome than alley collection, and 48 per cent did not support switching.

Forty-eight per cent said curbside pickup was easier or equivalent to alley collection, and just over 41 per cent favoured making the switch – some enthusiastically.

Nearly a third of people said they noticed less litter in the alley.

Nobody reported noticing more.

'Times have changed, and we need to do better'

The rest either noticed no difference or didn't take note of the litter at all.

The only councillor to speak against the motion during Monday's council meeting was Coun. Mark McKenzie, who said he isn't prepared to support it until the city consults residents.

"We've had a lot of conversations recently about neighborhood characteristics ... especially with the housing accelerator," he said.

"And I know, especially in the Walkerville area, residents in that area have expressed, 'Hey, we moved to this neighborhood because of, not only the character of the neighborhood; we love the fact that, you know, the clean stuff's in the front, and all the dirty stuff is in the back.'"

Coun. Kieran McKenzie supported the motion but said he remains concerned that the city lacks a vision for the maintenance of its alleys, and he hopes that the asset management process will result in recommendations on the topic.

Coun. Renaldo Agostino said, for him, the change is about cleaning up the alleyways.

"I know certainly in the areas that we dealt with during the pilot project, things got a lot cleaner back there when garbage was being stored at the front," he said..

"I know it's going to be tough for some people ... but times have changed, and we need to do better, and this opens up the door for us to do better."