Media Releases

Solid waste collection contract awarded; changes coming to collection schedule

Miller Waste Systems Inc. will continue to pick up the Town of Amherst’s residential solid waste following a decision by the town council on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, to award the firm with a new five-year deal.

The current contract with Miller was set to expire on March 31 and the new contract goes into effect a day later.

The new contract, valued at just over $2.5 million, is for three-stream (garbage, organics and recyclable materials) collection, yard waste pickup, bi-weekly bulky item pickup and six extra summer organics collection that will result in compost being picked up weekly during the summer. While what is being collected remains the same, the timing for picking up garbage and recyclables will change in the second year of the contract.

Instead of putting out garbage and compostable materials one week and recyclable materials the next, all solid waste materials will have to be curbside on the same day once every two weeks.

The firm will use two trucks on collection day to conduct the solid waste collection. One will pick up organics and source-separated solid waste, while the other will collect fibre materials and container recycling.

The contract stipulates the collection will be held on Tuesdays. This day was selected in order to avoid rescheduling due to holiday, which most often fall on Mondays and Fridays.

It also stipulates additional services such as the bulky item collection, Christmas tree pickup, weekly summer organics collection and spring/fall leaf and yard waste pickup will also be collected on Tuesdays.

If the current collection schedule had been maintained, the new contract would have cost the town $74,327.47 more than the figure agreed upon in the new contract.     

The new contract will result in an increase to the solid waste charge, which will be determined during the 2023/24 operational budget deliberations.

During the first year of the new contract Miller will prepare detailed maps and collections schedules, which they will communicate to residents. The town will assist in the promotion of the collection schedule changes on our social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter.