Sarnia residents are encouraged to use a new tool on the city's website to see if their garbage and recycling pick-up dates are changing in the new year.
City council adopted a Waste Master Plan during the November 19 council meeting and approved a recommendation to optimize collection routes to improve efficiency.
General Manager of Engineering and Operations David Jackson said as a result of the route changes, approximately 16,000 properties will see their collection day and zone change, as of January 6, 2025.
Through the new online tool, residents will be prompted to type in their addresses to see potential changes.
Although recycling collection is handled by Circular Materials Ontario, not the city, Jackson said the zone and scheduled changes will coincide with recycling pick-up.
"We did work with the recycling contractor because we knew that people like to put it out on the same day. So the recycling contractor is also making the same change to their collection date," he said.
There are a few areas of the city where the zone changes would have created a three-week service gap in recycling collection, but Jackson said the contractor was willing to provide back-to-back collection over two weeks to eliminate any service disruptions.
"They're eager for these more efficient routes and so it was just something that they were willing to do, have that extra workload that one week, knowing that going forward, their routes will be much more efficient," Jackson said.
As a result, the area bounded by Indian Road, Brigden Road, Confederation Street/Confederation Line and the city boundary will have recycling collected on the weeks of December 30 and January 6, 2025.
Additionally, the area bounded by Brigden Road, Mandaumin Road, Lake Huron, and Confederation Line will have recycling collection on the weeks of January 6, 2025, and January 13, 2025.
A 2025 Waste Collection Calendar will go out to Sarnia residents, however, their delivery depends on the ongoing Canada Post strike.
"Normally, we do get that out by mid-December but it'll depend on when that issue gets resolved," Jackson said.
Other changes coming into effect next year include the elimination of curbside Christmas tree collection and yard waste will now be every other week between April and December.
Jackson said Sarnia residents can drop off their Christmas trees at Transco Waste and Recycling Center in January or keep them until the first brush collection in April.
Further details about the upcoming changes can be found on the city's website.
Although the newly adopted Waste Master Plan includes recommendations for a green bin program to collect organic waste, decisions have not been finalized. The matter will be reviewed by city council in 2025 and 2026.