Background information on carts

Overview

In March 2026, the Region of Waterloo changed to cart-based collection for garbage and organics.

The Region provides curbside collection service to approximately 161,000 single-family homes, duplexes, and 3-to-6-unit buildings, as well as 8,500 multi-family units and townhouse complexes that meet truck-access criteria.

Most of the collection was done manually, by lifting waste materials and placing them into the collection trucks. By switching to cart-based collection, the Region has improved worker safety, operational efficiency, and cut down on waste collection day litter.

Challenges with manual waste collection

There are ongoing and evolving changes to the waste industry with major challenges around staff recruitment and retention for manual waste collection. Specifically, challenges exist due to:

a limited labour pool as the work requires extensive physical labour;
working in adverse conditions due to nuisances, weather, type of work, and negative perceptions; and
health and safety risks with on-going lifting of heavy waste materials, and slips, trips and falls from exiting and entering a truck.

Based on industry research, it was difficult to receive competitive bids from service providers to continue to provide manual waste collection for garbage and organics.

Benefits of converting to cart-based collection for garbage and organics

Health and safety to reduce injuries for workers
Efficiencies for stop times curbside which introduces opportunities for efficiencies in route logistics
Mitigating safety risks by having the driver inside the vehicle, using 360-degree cameras to view the area outside of the truck
Reduce litter from windy days, and pests
Staff recruitment for contractors, while diversifying the workforce