Garbage collection in Waterloo region got a makeover this week, but the change wasn’t entirely smooth for some residents.

For some people who had pickups scheduled Thursday or Friday, they may see a truck rolling down their street on Saturday, said Olivia Kwok, the region’s director of waste management.

Kwok says if your garbage or green bin is still waiting at your curb, leave it there. Trucks will be coming by through Saturday to make up for the delays.

But if you were one of the residents scheduled for a Tuesday or Wednesday pickup and the trucks haven’t come by — you need to let the region know by filling out the online inquiry form.

“There have been delays in the collection just because of the additional workload that we’ve put into this week. So with that, more trucks and staff were brought in to support the additional waste that was being collected,” she said.

“It’s only been four days. So overtime the efficiencies will come with the trucks and the routing.”

She says the region has been fielding over a thousand comments, questions and complaints from the community since the program started on Tuesday.

“We will be tracking metrics. We’ll be reporting on different things such as even our curbside education team going out how that’s going. But it’s still really early.”

‘We have to be patient’

Regional staff are sifting through community feedback after the first week of the new garbage collection system comes to an end.

Colleen James is a Region of Waterloo councillor and chair of the sustainability, infrastructure and development committee. She says the most common issue residents are reporting is a delay in garbage pickup.

“It’s been in some cases 24 hours [since] they haven’t received pickup in their neighbourhood,” she said.

“The main message coming from me is we have to be patient. We’re delivering this service to 700,000 residents across three major municipal urban municipalities and then the townships. So that’s a big project launch. It’s huge.”

For those unsure if they chose the right size of bin, James is asking them to wait before switching or taking matters into their own hands.

“The bins are unique to the household. So while some may try and exchange with neighbours or what have you, I would suggest before doing that to reach out to us as well,” James said, adding that the barcode facing the street are unique identifiers connecting them to specific addresses.

She says they are working on making necessary adjustments as more comments come in.

“Between now and the next pickup, I’m sure we will see improvement.”

‘Gotta work out some of the kinks’

Residents shared a variety of comments and concerns as the first week of the new garbage pickup program came to an end on Friday.

Matthew Ingraham says his garbage bins were still full 24 hours after they should have been picked up.

“It doesn’t really matter to me. I understand that things are slow to roll out, especially with new trucks, new layouts and stuff,” he said.

“There’s always going to be growing [pains] with any new system. I’m sure there’s kinks they’re going to work out, but lot of the other cities and regions have had it for a while and it’s been working fine. I’m sure once we get over the headaches, it’ll be fine.”

Alice Ereba’s garbage pickup went smoothly and she has no complaints.

“I was sick of seeing dirty and old trucks. These ones are beautiful. You can’t even tell that they’re collecting garbage when you look at them,” she said, thanking staff for good work.

“I hope it will continue … They’re doing good job.”

Penny Costaglou says she’s disappointed by the delays in pickup.

“They should be waking up a lot earlier and cleaning up the garbage, that’s for sure,” she said.

“It’s all over the place and it’s nobody’s picking it up and the city is not doing as much as they should.”

Sara Smith-Chapman is part of a neighbourhood group chat that has been keeping an eye on the new trucks.

“Our neighbours complaining, getting in on the conversation … There was a sighting of one of the trucks this morning and everyone was excited because everyone’s been waiting,” she said, adding that it’s been over 24 hours since their garbage was supposed to be collected.

“I don’t know. I think they’ll figure it out. Just gotta work out some of the kinks, you know?”