Blue bins line the end of multiple driveways on many streets in a Coldwater neighbourhood on Friday.
You might think it's collection day - but residents say these bins have been sitting, waiting to be picked up since Tuesday night.
"It's not been picked up all week!"
"We're just leaving it out there hoping that it's going to get picked up."
Recycling collection across Simcoe County has been an issue for weeks with trucks arriving days later than scheduled.
Instead of the recycling being picked up, it's left to blow onto lawns, driveways and into ditches, forcing many residents to spend their mornings cleaning up the mess.
Items blown out of recycling bins litter lawns in a Coldwater neighbourhood.
Others have decided to carry their bins out to the end of their property each day.
"Bring it in, take it out, bring it in, take it out."
The County of Simcoe says the problem lies with a shortage of staffing.
"We've had a widespread problem with the contractor that we're using - Waste Connections - not having enough labour," explains director of Solid Waste Management, Rob McCullough.
He says the County has prioritized garbage and organics pickup.
The trucks that deal with yard waste will switch to recycling next month.
Meanwhile, the County is working to bring in other outside contractors to fill the void, while staff and council try to come up with a long-term solution.
"The County of Simcoe wants to apologize," McCullough says. "This isn't the level of service we expect. This isn't the level of service the residents expect, and we apologize for this. This is something we're doing everything we can to try and fix."
With no immediate solution to the problem, the County suggests rather than leaving bins out for days, to call the Simcoe County offices. They will set up a phone call notification of pick up days - or there is a Simcoe County app that will send notifications.
