The Regional Municipality of Durham has announced that effective April 7 and until further notice, leaf and yard waste will no longer be accepted at its waste management facilities (WMFs).
Residents can instead take advantage of the free curbside leaf and yard waste collection.
This change is to help limit the number of people attending the WMFs and to reduce the number of vehicles on-site. Proof of residency will also help ensure that the Regional WMFs are exclusive to residents of the Region of Durham. To provide proof of residency, residents can present a driver’s license or a recent piece of mail or bill with a regional address, said a media statement.
In order to ensure the safety of clients and our staff during Covid-19, the WMFs have implemented increased safety measures including limiting the number of people and cars on-site and practicing physical distancing, it said.
Residents are asked to limit their trips to the WMFs and instead check their collection calendar to use the curbside collection for waste, including leaf and yard waste.
Residents taking advantage of the curbside collection for leaf and yard waste must still follow these rules:
- Only use paper yard waste bags or clearly labelled, returnable open-top containers. We do not pick up yard waste in cardboard boxes, blue boxes, green bins or plastic bags.
- If you are using a reusable open-top container, you should drill holes in the bottom of the container for drainage.
- Securely tie brush in bundles up to one metre (three feet) long and 76 centimetres (30 inches) wide. No branch should be more than 10 centimetres
(4 inches) in diameters. - Yard waste cannot weigh more than 20 kilograms (44 pounds).
These updated measures will help ensure that our services identified as essential by the Province of Ontario, including waste management and household hazardous waste collection, continue to be provided safely to protect the environment and the public.
For more information, visit durham.ca/waste, email waste@durham.ca, call 1-800-667-5671 or download the Durham Region Waste App.
Changes to Oshawa yard waste collection
Although there are some changes to Oshawa services due to Covid-19, city waste collection staff continue to provide curbside waste collection for households, including yard waste collection at the curb.
Changes to waste collection service due to the holiday weekend
- There will be no waste collection service on Friday, April 10 and Monday, April 13.
- Residents who normally receive waste collection on Fridays are reminded that due to Good Friday, waste will instead be collected on Saturday, April 11.
- Waste collection during the week of April 13 will occur one day later than your regularly scheduled collection day due to the Easter Monday holiday.Waste collection reminders
- To avoid being missed, place waste at the curb no later than 7:00 a.m. the day of collection on clear portions of your driveway.
- Please ensure all waste and green bin material is tied and secured in a bag. Loose materials will not be collected.
- The City has increased the four-bag limit to six bags for garbage collection and waived the requirement for garbage bag tags. At this time, this is in effect until further notice. Despite this increase, we ask community members not to overburden collection operators unnecessarily – continue to practise waste reduction by utilizing blue boxes and green bins and respect the weight limit of 20 kg.
- Yard waste collection occurs every other week on the same day as your garbage and is collected from mid-April until the end of November. Residents are asked to check the Waste Collection Calendar and Information Guide for details about collection and to verify start and end dates. We advise that there may be delays in service due to increased volume of material.
- Please join us in thanking our waste collection staff and to respect and maintain physical distancing of 6 feet (2 metres).
- Check your waste collection calendar for more information, visit our Waste webpage, or download the “Durham Region Waste” app.
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