WINNIPEG - February 1, 2010 - Day One residents on the Five-Day Collection Calendar in the northwest area of the city are reminded to begin using their new garbage carts tomorrow, Tuesday, February 2, 2010. Day Two residents need to start using their cart on Wednesday, February 3, 2010.

Residents are also reminded of a few tips to ensure collection goes smoothly:

• Place the cart out before 7:00 a.m. on collection day. Carts can be placed out the night before collection. However, we don't recommend residents do this on nights when snow clearing is scheduled for their area.
• Make sure the cart lid is closed. Lids that are left open can be damaged when the cart is emptied.
• Do not leave garbage beside or on top of the cart. Only garbage inside the cart will be collected.
• Point the arrow on the cart lid to the centre of the street or lane.
• Leave at least one meter on all sides of the cart so that the collection arm on the automated truck has enough space to grab the cart.
• Don’t place the cart behind or on top of a snowbank.
• Bring the cart back to your property as soon as possible after collection.

These tips along with other details are in the information package delivered with each cart and on the City’s web site at winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste

The start dates for the remaining collection days are:

Day 3..............................February 11, 2010
Day 4..............................February 22, 2010
Day 5..............................February 16, 2010

If residents are unsure of their collection day, they can visit winnipeg.ca/ecis or call 311.

About 42,000 dwellings in the northwest area will change from manual garbage collection to automated collection by February 22, 2010.

In October 2009, Council approved a seven-year contract with BFI Canada Inc. for automated residential garbage collection in the northwest area of the city (bounded by the Assiniboine River, the Red River, and the north and west city limits). Homes served by AutoBins are not changing to the new automated collection system.