Big changes coming to Barrie's curbside collection: Here's what you need to know

Barrie residents and businesses can expect significant changes to the City's waste management program this spring.

Here's a breakdown of the key updates and what to anticipate over the next few years, starting May 1, 2024.

Residential Impacts

• A new collection schedule may change residents' collection days to balance routes.
• Pet waste can be included in green bins (organics).
• No shifts to the collection schedule due to holidays, except for Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
• Yard waste collection every other week, April through November, with Christmas tree collection weekly in January.
• Curbside collection expanded to eligible private roadways and laneways.
• Downtown BIA residents will experience daily garbage and organics collection.

Business Impacts

• Businesses must register with the City for municipal waste collection.
• Downtown BIA businesses will have daily (weekdays) garbage and recycling collections.

Recycling Program Transition

The City will no longer collect residential recycling (blue and grey boxes) as part of a provincial regulation, instead a not-for-profit administrator will oversee collection through a contractor.

The transition will occur from May 1 until December 31, 2025, and then Circular Materials will take charge.

"During that transition phase, everything essentially stays the same. The material will be collected the same way it is now, so you will have your blue bin and your grey bin. However, the collection day may change," said Chris Marchant with the City of Barrie.

Automated Cart Collection Starting September 8, 2025

The City will move to an automated cart collection service with one cart for garbage and one for organics for residents.

The benefits of the automated cart collection include:

• Improved worker safety, faster collection times, and increased efficiency.
• Carts for businesses with expanded organics collection.
• Downtown BIA residents and businesses will see increased collection frequency.

The Ontario government implemented new rules for recycling, the Producer Responsibility legislation, which Mayor Alex Nuttall says isn't exactly a money-saving move.

"The obligations related to waste cleanup and recycling have gone up considerably, and this is in line with what the province has changed," said Nuttall.

"This change over the coming years will certainly result in a service enhancement in terms of the automatic machines and some of the better ways to store recycling and garbage prior to pickup, but at the same time, it's costing the City of Barrie more and part of that is there’s just more units to pickup," the mayor added. "There's certainly an increase in overall cost."

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