LAVAL, QUE. -- The City of Laval has completed the distribution of black bins on wheels to more than 130,000 single-family homes and buildings with seven units or less in order to establish its automated waste collection system, which comes into effect Thursday.
These bins are in addition to the two others, blue and brown, which are used respectively for the collection of recyclable materials and green and compostable waste in the third most populous city in Quebec.
The black bin should only be used to dispose of residual materials that have no potential for reuse. Hazardous solid waste should not be placed in the bin.
The City of Laval explains that the contents of the bin can be transferred to the truck using a mechanical arm. The garbage collectors are therefore no longer directly exposed to the contents of the bins and no longer have to lift heavy loads repeatedly.
Collection is therefore faster and safer, but the black bin will also ensure that the streets are cleaner because the waste is protected from the weather, insects and animals in a closed container.
As of this Thursday, the black bin will be the only container eligible for collection in Laval; it will therefore be mandatory for the city's 445,000 residents to use it.
Citizens who don't want to give their old bins a new purpose are invited to bring them to three drop-off points on April 10 and 11, at the Saint-Francois arena, Berthiaume-Du Tremblay park and the Lucerne arena.
-- this report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2021.
