By Cecilia Nasmith

Northumberland County has announced new measures to resolve backlogged leaf- and yard waste-collection efforts.

Effective immediately, the county has contracted with Environmental 360 Solutions Inc. to provide additional resources for completing these collections. As well, county roads staff and equipment will be temporarily deployed to assist Environmental 360 Solutions Inc. and its current waste collector GFL with this effort (weather permitting).

Director of Transportation, Waste and Facilities Mo Pannu expressed his regrets in the press release for the inconvenience to residents caused by the delay.

“With an ongoing backlog, despite the additional staffing hours that have been dedicated to collection, we will be taking further steps to resolve these delays,” Pannu said.

“Starting today, we have implemented a supplementary collections contract, and will also temporarily redeploy roads staff in order to return to the service levels expected by our residents. We do apologize for the recent delays, and appreciate everyone's continued patience as we implement these new measures and work to return to a regular leaf and yard waste collection schedule as quickly as possible.”

Residents are advised to continue leaving leaf and yard waste materials at the curb if they have not yet been collected, as collection will continue until all yard waste has been removed.

For questions regarding waste and recycling collection, residents are invited to contact the county's Waste and Recycling Hotline at 1-866-293-8379 or visit www.NorthumberlandCounty.ca/RecyclingWaste.