Gatineau residents raise stink over robotic garbage collection rollout

Shawnie Roach Cardinal says she waited morethan two weeks for her compost to be picked up before a garbage collector finally came by yesterday.

The Aylmer residenthas put theblame onthe City of Gatineau'snew waste collection trucks, which are equipped with robotic arms and hit the roads at the end of May.

"The next day turns into the next day, the next day turns into the next week, and now we're here," she said. "They're just not showing up."

Roach Cardinal saidshe never had issues withgarbage collection before the new trucks wereintroduced, and she's not the only one voicing concerns.

The City of Gatineau saw a steep increase in waste-related complaints over the last two months compared to the same time in 2023, the majority of which were for uncompleted collections.

From May 30 to July 26, residents filed 4,330 requests for assistance withuncompleted collections, according city data obtained by Radio-Canada.

That's more than double the2,093 requests recorded for the same period last year.

Calls related to broken bins are also on the rise, going from 1,892 to 2,725. More than half of those were for recycling bins, which were the first picked up by the trucksas part of a gradual rollout that later expanded to include garbage and compost.

Roach Cardinal said she put out her compost before collection day on July 22.

That collection day was skipped.Several emails and phone calls to bylaw later, her compost bin was still there on Sunday, despite promises to pick it up each time she called. (Crews did finally come gether compost up Monday.)

Roach Cardinal saidher entire street is missed on collection day. It's something she suspects is due to the designof the garbagetrucks, which only have the robotic arm on the right side the side that's opposite the houses on her one-way street.

Even if residents took their waste to the dump themselves, the citylimits what residents can drop off for free, she added.

New trucks, new rules

The city said many of the uncompleted collection complaints it has received aredue to non-compliance with instructions for leaving waste at the curb.

Those rules changedwhen the new collection program was implemented.Bins must now be:

• Compatible with robotic collection.
• Positioned with wheels facing the residence.
• Closed and unlocked.
• Free from obstructions in front and within 60 centimetres on either side.
• Sorted according to the material they contain, with green waste in bins marked with a 'V' and recycling in bins marked with an 'R.'

But Emilie Salesse Gauthier, who also lives in Aylmer, saidshe iscomplying and the garbage still isn't being picked up.

She says she's been leaving her bins atthe end of her driveway and then moving them each time she needs her car in case the city follows through on its promises to pick up her waste.

"It's been [like playing] Tetris to get out of my drive," she said.

Long waits mean more problems, residents say

Salesse Gauthier said most of her neighbours have been waiting more than a week for their waste to be picked up.

If it'snot collected one week, she has to wait another two meaning her garbage could pile up for nearly an entire month.

Since the rules require bins have to be unlocked, that attracts raccoons, she said.Add a heatwave on top of that, and the result is stinking compost strewn across the street.

"It's a recurring problem," Salesse Gauthier said. "It's a new service. I get it that it takes some time to get used to it, but we need to fix the problem."