Changes to garbage and curbside collection officially begins Tuesday across Waterloo region.

That means residents will be using new black and green bins for their garbage and organic waste. Your collection day may have also changed, due to the region’s new schedule.

Collection is moving to a four-day cycle – from Tuesday to Friday – in order to reduce confusion with holiday Mondays.

Collection will continue on holidays except for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

This week only, garbage, organic and recycling will all be picked up on your collection day, but starting next week, garbage and recycling will move to bi-weekly, while organic will remain weekly.

“We did that so that you’d start fresh because right now, based on the current schedule, it may be a different kind of frequency,” Olivia Kwok, director of waste management with the region told CBC News last week.

“We just wanted to make sure everyone started fresh the first week to get used to the program.”

WATCH | Tips to make sure your garbage will be picked up by the new trucks:

What you need to know about the new garbage collection changes across the region

Region of Waterloo’s new cart-based collection truck has a mechanical arm to pick up the new garbage cans. The technology will help ease the workload for staff while also improving safety. To prepare the region for the upcoming change, Olivia Kwok, Region of Waterloo’s waste management director, shared some tips for residents who want to make sure their garbage pick up goes smoothly when the trucks roll out on March 3.

Why change to cart-based collection?

Before this change, most of the collection was done manually, with crews lifting and placing waste materials into the collection trucks. That’s now switched to cart-based collection, which means the truck is doing the lifting.

On its website, the region said there were challenges with manual collection, prompting the change to cart-based collection.

“There are ongoing and evolving changes to the waste industry with major challenges around staff recruitment and retention for manual waste collection,” the region said.

Those include a limited labour pool, working in adverse conditions and health and safety risks.

Storing new carts and what to do with old bins

Kwok said residents can store their new black and green carts anywhere they would like on their property. She said carts should be set out at the edge of the driveway or on the boulevard on collection day.

“Just make sure there is about two feet of space or an arm’s length of space around the carts, including away from vehicles or snow banks. That way it can be collected,” she said.

As for your old garbage and green bins, Kwok recommends people re-use them for yard waste or storage.

“If you have no use for it, we do accept the green bins through a drop-off program where they’ll be recycled,” she said.

Residents can bring them to the region’s waste management sites or during one of the drop-off events the region will host at each municipality.

“If you do not want your green bin or your garbage container at all, it is possible to set it out for bulky item collection. It will count as part of the limit though,” she said.