CRD hiring workers from B.C. mainland to help with recycling pickup delays

Residents of Greater Victoria have been contending with frequent recycling pickup delays, and now the Capital Regional District (CRD) is looking at ways to offset the service disruptions.

The CRD says it's bringing in more workers from the mainland to help contractor Emterra Environmental, which has been struggling to maintain service levels.

The regional district is also looking for additional contractors to help catch up on the backlog.

"[We are] investigating, over the short term, hiring some additional capacity from a third-party waste hauler," said CRD senior manager of environmental resource management, Russ Smith.

"We don't have it in place yet, but we are looking to make sure we have a waste hauler in place to take from the Emterra schedule to help them catch up and get the backlog taken care of and resume service like we need to," he said.

The CRD says that if your recycling is not picked up by 9 p.m. on your scheduled pickup day, you should leave your recycling bin out for one more day.

If it's not picked up within 48 hours of your scheduled pickup day, the CRD asks residents to retrieve their bins and materials and hold onto them until their next scheduled collection day.

Alternatively, residents can drop off their recycling for free at depots listed on the CRD website.

Last year, the Capital Regional District announced it was hiring a new contractor for its recycling collection services.

Starting in 2024, GFL will take over for Emterra Environmental, once Emterra's current contract ends.

The GFL contract will run from January 2024 to December 2029. The new contractor says its fleet will include 25 trucks, including two electric vehicles.