Garbage and Recycling Collections
- Collection Days
- Garbage and Recycling: Every Thursday
- Bulky items and construction, renovation and demolition material (CRD): Second Wednesday of the month for the north sector, and the fourth Wednesday of the month for the south sector, from April to November.
- Green residue and leaves: every Monday from April to November. See schedule
- Green residue collection schedule:
- From April until the end of November: every Monday for the south sector, and every Wednesday for the north sector.
- Winter (January, February, March and December): second Monday of the month for the south sector, and the second Wednesday of the month for the south sector.
- Green residue includes: Dead leaves, hedge trimmings and yard waste (flowers, dead plants, weeds, grass clippings and stubble, wood chips, straw, hay, bush/shrub roots and plants.
- Collection schedule for bulky items and construction, renovation and demolition material (CRD): Monthly, starting the second Wednesday of the month for the north sector, and the fourth Wednesday of the month for the south sector, from April to November.
- If you miss the bulky items/CRD collection: Wait until the next one or bring these materials to the Public Work drop-off site.
- What is CRD?
“CRD” is material produced by construction/renovation and demolition of residential buildings performed by the occupant and not by a contractor. - Permitted bulky items: Furniture, rugs (to 6’ rolled and tied), mattresses, pool covers (rolled), household appliances (stoves, dishwashers, fridges, freezers), BBQ (without propane tank), hot water heaters, air-conditioning units, dehumidifiers, tire rims, cardboard boxes (flattened and stacked), etc.
- CRDs accepted for bulky items collection: Wood and pallets, plasterboard, ceramics, concrete, bricks, paving stones (in open containers or boxes, for manual pick-up, up to 25 kg—55 lbs.), melamine, doors and windows, vinyl siding, bathtubs, toilets, sinks, mirrors and window panes (various sizes), asphalt and asphalt shingles, etc.
Only CRDs resulting from renovations performed by residents themselves are allowed. Manually loaded items must be in containers or boxes. In general, it must be possible for 2 workers to pick up the materials by hand and do so in no more than 5 minutes. - I have green residue and leaves in plastic bags to be picked up. Will they be?
No. Put your green residue and leaves in a garbage can, paper bag or cardboard box. Blue recycling bags are not allowed. - I have bulky objects in plastic bags to be picked up. Will they be?
No. Put bulky objects in a garbage can, paper bag or cardboard box. Blue recycling bags are not allowed. - Will my CRDs resulting from renovation work performed by a private contractor be picked up?
No. Only CRDs from the work performed by residents themselves are accepted. - Why weren’t my bulky objects and CRDs picked up this week?
Bulky objects and CRDs are only picked up the second Wednesday of the month for the north sector, and the fourth Wednesday of the month for the south sector, from April to November. - Why weren’t my bulky objects/green residue/leaves/garbage picked up?
Items not scheduled for collection (green residue, leaves in plastic bags, bulky objects, etc.) and put out to the curb on the wrong day or put out late will not be collected. Make sure you have the right day for the right collection. If none of these reasons applies, leave your contact information and we’ll follow up. - Where should I leave bulky items and CRDs?
Bulky objects should be neatly/safely stacked and placed separately from household garbage. - When should I put garbage and recyclables out to the curb?
Put bulky waste/green residue/leaves and garbage cans out to the curb before 7:00 a.m. on collection day—or after 5:00 p.m. the night before. - What do I do with hazardous household waste (HHW)?
Roving HHW collections are scheduled in the spring and fall each year. If you miss a collection, visit the collection sites of neighbouring municipalities. - Does the new bulky item collection have any impact on the ordinary garbage collection schedule?
No. Both are completely separate. - Can I give away used objects that still work?
YES. If your bulky items can still be used, you can give them to charity. Please visit our webpage about reuse organizations, or send an email to collectes-collection@beaconsfield.ca for a list of these organizations. - I received a notice stating that my items cannot be picked up. Whom can I discuss this with?
Please call 514 428-4500 or email collectes-collection@beaconsfield.ca for any questions or information about pick-ups. You can also check the online collection schedule for a list of items that will be accepted and rejected. - Are special pick-ups still possible?
Yes. You can always request a paid special pick-up if you miss a pickup and for CRDs produced by a private contractor. An inspector will come by and estimate the fee ($95 minimum).
Garbage and Recycling
- Why shouldn’t organic materials go to landfill, since they will biodegrade naturally?
Compostable organic materials that are buried in a landfill site (dump) contaminate the water and generate such greenhouse gases as methane (CH4). When properly composted, they return organic matter to the earth without giving off leachates or methane. - Can I put my table scraps through a sink garbage disposal?
Such units are prohibited in Montréal because the water treatment system is not designed to cope with the waste they generate. Furthermore, water treatment sludge is incinerated. The organic matter it contains is not, therefore, recyclable. - What should I do with my table scraps?
Take advantage of the City's green and food residue collection. Click here for more details. Vegetable table scraps can be mixed with other home compost.- Each household may obtain one free composter and one free kitchen collector from the Public Works drop-off site.
- How can I get rid of animal waste?
The City currently does not pick up table scraps of animal origin or pet excrement. You can put such substances in the garbage. Waste of animal origin includes:- Meat, fat, cheese, bones and carcasses of chickens, etc.
- Remainders of sauces and prepared dishes.
- Pet (dog, cat, bird, etc.) excrement.
- What do I do with dead animals?
Dead animals are not accepted for garbage pickups. Their bodies can be turned over to veterinarians. - What do I do with disposable diapers?
Put all disposable diapers from babies and other sources in the garbage. - What do I do with medical or human waste?
Occasional medical waste may be put in the household garbage. However, residents who regularly use syringes must discard them in sharps disposal containers. Your pharmacy can provide further information.- Used bandages, cotton balls, etc.: garbage
- Syringes: sharps disposal container (check with pharmacy)
- What do I do with used clothing and different fabrics not suitable for charity?
All non-reusable and non-recyclable clothing and fabrics may be discarded as garbage. However, recycling firms often accept to make rags or fibre. Check with such organizations. If they don’t want them, put them in the garbage. - How do I discard expired medications?
Take them to the pharmacy. - Can I put my garbage in plastic bags?
Although plastic wrap is recyclable, we recommend using sealed plastic bags to discard waste and control odour. - Where are recyclable bulky items and construction, renovation and demolition material taken?
They are hauled to a dry materials sorting centre, except for cooling equipment, such as refrigerators, dehumidifiers, air conditioners, etc., which are taken to Public Works, where cooling liquids are removed by an accredited firm, before they are recycled.
The sorting centre separate recyclable materials (wood, metal, plastics, plasterboard, asphalt shingles, cardboard, etc.) before recycling and reusing them.
Bulky items and CRDs that are picked up by the City are not recycled. Take materials in good working order to a recycling organization. - Why recycle glass, which will be sent to landfill anyway?
Not true! Glass that is recycled through selective collection (blue bin) is separated and sent to recyclers. Glass, which comes from sand, is worth less than other recycled materials and recycling it is less cost-effective. However, the recycling industry is evolving and you are encouraging development of these new solutions by discarding glass in your blue bind. Three subsectors currently use recycled glass:- Glass micronization for reuse in concrete.
- Production of paving stones (see the Jean-Talon Market plan).
- Use as cover materials in engineered landfill site.
Incentive Tariff Approach
- What is incentive tariff?
The incentive tariff approach offers flexible services for citizens and provides a more equitable method of charging for garbage collection.
The pilot project allowed citizens to choose a garbage bin size (120 L, 240 L and 360 L) and put the bin out to the curb only when necessary. Garbage sent to landfill dropped 31%.
See the incentive tariff approach section
2. Will this cost me more?
In 2015, $176 from each property tax account went to waste management. This system would provide new services while minimizing waste management charges and boosting the City's environmental performance. The charges billed to residents depend, each year, on what the City pays to outside contractors. Residents who use the full set of municipal recycling services should not pay more than before. It is likely they will pay less.
3. Will the incentive tariff apply to all Beaconsfield citizens?
The incentive tariff applies for citizens who have received a smart garbage bin from the City.
4. Why should we change our habits?
Before rolling out its Reduction Strategy, Beaconsfield was the Island of Montréal's second-largest waste producer per capita. Citizens generated an average 418 kg/person/year (compared with an average 272 kg for Québec as a whole, based on RECYC-QUÉBEC 2010 Household Characterization figures).
The average Beaconsfield garbage bin was, on average, half filled with compostable organic matter that can easily be diverted from landfill. These new measure help cut landfill costs and protect the environment.
Beaconsfield must comply with Québec's regulations. These include no paper, cardboard or organic matter in garbage by 2020. The Québec Action Plan for Waste Management seeks to:
- Recycle 60% of biodegradable materials.
- Recycle 70% of paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and scrap metal.
- Send 70% of construction, renovation and demolition waste (CRD) to a sorting centre.
- Cut waste production 16%.
5. Why not pick-up compostable materials, like our neighbours?
Beaconsfield has different features from these communities:
- The vast majority of residents live in single-family homes.
- Over 92% have backyards and can compost.
- Abundant vegetation generates a very large volume of green residue.
Beaconsfield's Reduction Strategy provides a more comprehensive approach aimed at reducing all waste production. Initiatives in place seek to recycle the very large majority of organic waste (green residue, domestic composting and grasscycling), while boosting reuse of all other waste (collections of bulky items and construction, renovation and demolition waste).
Problems associated with brown bin collections in neighbouring cities are:
- Brown bins contain a low percentage of kitchen residue relative to green residue
- Participation is low in the winter
- In the winter, kitchen residue can stick to the bin and not be completely removed
- The size of the brown bin is too small for residents who produce a lot of green residue
- The tonnage diverted does not justify the high cost
Advantages of targeted green residue collections and community support for backyard composting:
- Weekly green residue pickup from April to November, during the period of peak production of organic matter
- No limit on the number of bags or reusable containers collected
- No use of plastic bags (plastic would contaminate the compost)
- Contract cost is fixed even if amount of green residue collected increases annually
- Backyard composting allows treatment and use of organic matter on site (avoids transportation and ensures reuse)
- Free composter provided to all residents for kitchen residue and green residue
- Resident support program offered by the Beaconsfield’s volunteer Master Composters
6. How will the RFID system be used for the automated collection of the garbage bins?
- Each garbage bin is equipped with an RFID tag encoded with a unique alphanumeric identifier
- The RFID reader on the arm of the garbage truck registers each time a specific bin is emptied
- The system allows the operator to select from a list of irregularities if a bin could not be emptied
- Examples of irregularities: bin broken, incorrect bin, bin not accessible, bin backwards, etc.
- If necessary, the operator can take a picture to illustrate why the bin was not collected
- The system provides a very useful tool to improve service and information for residents
7. What are the principal advantages of the incentive tariff and the automated collection of garbage?
- The mechanized collection requires only 1 operator, less chance of accidents, thereby reducing cost
- The savings realized allows the City to offer more services to residents to help reduce waste
- The green residue and bulky item collections have greatly reduced waste sent to landfill
- Problems can be identified in real time, allowing oversights to be resolved the same day (facilitates complaint management )
- The bins provided by the City are more stable and resistant to damage, especially in winter
- The fee structure of the garbage contract ensures that the community’s efforts are rewarded (savings shared directly with residents)
- In many cases residents will pay less for garbage collection in 2016 than they did in 2015
- The flexible system allows each resident to determine his/her needs, based on his/her efforts to reduce waste
8. Why has this integrated approach to waste reduction been chosen instead of other means in an effort to optimize costs and reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfill?
- In 2013, Beaconsfield produced the second highest amount of garbage per capita on the Island of Montreal. An integrated approach was necessary to reduce the material sent to landfill and to bring about significant environmental improvement while controlling costs.
- Given the substantial added cost and the low diversion rates observed, the brown bin collections for organic waste do not offer a cost-effective means to reduce waste.
- A Recyc-Québec study has determined that most of the content of brown bins consists of green residue (75%). The City’s green residue collections have proven to be very cost-effective at reducing the organic matter sent to landfill.
- Results up until now, have demonstrated that the pillars of the Strategy will enable the City to reach and even exceed the environmental targets at a lower cost.
- In the first six months of 2015, Beaconsfield residents have reduced the tonnage of waste sent to landfill by 28% compared to the same period in 2014.
- Reducing the frequency of garbage collection in other cities has not resulted in significant savings and has proven to be very disruptive for their residents.
- The incentive tariff provides a more equitable and flexible approach to waste collection than the current rate structure, as it acknowledges the efforts residents make to reduce the waste left out for curbside pick-up.
NOTE
Respecting Privacy
Mayor Georges Bourelle and the elected members of the Beaconsfield Municipal Council are fully committed to preserving the safety, health and civic rights of all citizens, and have taken measures to ensure that the new waste collection system is privacy compliant when cameras are installed in truck dump boxes to capture images of the materials being picked up.
The City of Beaconsfield has obtained two legal opinions on this issue confirming that the new procedure, already in use in thousands of cities in the U.S. and Canada, is consistent with the right to privacy.
Privacy protection, which is clearly defined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Free-doms and the Civil Code of Quebec, ensures protection of both the character and image of an individual.
According to the lawyers consulted, garbage put out for purposes of collection is considered to have been “abandoned” by its owner. Consequently, privacy protection is not at issue.
Decisions handed down by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2009 and the Appeal Court of Quebec in 2012 confirm that privacy is protected when citizens leave their household waste on a public right-of-way because, in so doing, they give up ownership rights to the garbage bags and their contents.
The experts consulted stated that there is no legal foundation to the claim that viewing garbage collection operations on a screen – or taking photographs of such operations – constitutes an infringement of privacy.