Recycling is back on track: St. John's to resume curbside pickups

Roughly one month after the City of St. John's stopped curbside recycling as part of its COVID-19 measures, it says pickup will start next week albeit on a new monthly schedule.

The key motivation, the city said, was to prevent people from throwing away cardboard, paper and plastic.

"The decision to resume recycling was made to permit residents who have been storing their items for the past month to dispose of them without having to put recyclables in the garbage," the city said in a news release Thursday morning.

Since curbside plastic and paper recycling stopped, and local depots closed as well, some residents have been concerned about storing the amount of recycling piling up.

On Thursday, Mayor Danny Breen said sorting at recycling facilities hasn't stopped. Curbside collection was the issue.

"We'll be picking it up and bringing it to Robin Hood Bay, where it will be continue to be sorted," Breen said.

As for the Robin Hood Baywaste facility itself, it remains closed to public drop-off, but Breen said the city is continuing to monitor the situation. About 1,200 vehicles went through the municipal landfill the last day it was open, he said.

"The physical distancing, although it looks simple to do, it's not quite that simple," he said. "There's a lot of different operations that go on there. People move around. We're looking at it and we will continue to look at it."

The city's recycling collection will occur once a month until further notice, on regularly scheduled days.

There will be no limits on the number of bags you can put out. Garbage collection remains the same, and Breen said city workers are moving ahead with normal springcleanup to rid public property of waste as snow begins to melt.

For Area A residents, recyclingwill be picked up April 20 to 24 and again May 19-22. For Area B residents, it's April 27 to May 1 followed by May 25-29.

If you are not sure which day is your collection, you can visit this page on the City of St. John's site.

In nearby municipalities like Paradise, Conception Bay South and Mount Pearl, recycling collection was also paused. Mount Pearlnoted it"requires more handling than regular garbage and increases the risk of transmission to our team."

The Town of Torbay, on the other hand, was among thosecontinuingcurbside recycling pickup.

Meanwhile, the City of St. John's is also advising residents of some changes for the St. George's Day holiday on Monday. Area 1 garbage collection will carry on as usual and parking regulations will be enforced April 20 as it is not a shops closing day.

Robin Hood Bay residential drop-off is still closed due to the pandemic, but it will beopen Monday as normal for commercial and municipal customers.

Like other municipalities across the province, City of St. John's offices, facilities, parks and playgrounds remain closed until further notice as the pandemic continues.

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