Leamington residents will see their garbage collection cut back to every other week. Council approved the change on Tuesday evening, which will see the municipality switch from weekly to biweekly garbage pickup with Miller Waste Systems beginning in January 2027, just two months after the town introduces weekly green bin collection. Leamington is set to join Amherstburg and Kingsville in Phase 2 of the regional Green Bin program this November. Staff say the change to biweekly would save money, as keeping the weekly collection would increase the municipality’s 2027 collection costs by 39 per cent. Moving to biweekly could mean an increase of about seven per cent and would save Leamington residents approximately $1.6-million over the six-year contract. The report points to Windsor, which already moved to biweekly collection in October 2025. The regional green bin program has helped divert thousands of tonnes of waste away from the landfill. Coun. Tim Wilkinson says despite some controversy throughout Phase 1, the change needs to happen. “It’s been great to hear the results that are coming out of this. The impacts to our landfill, which are super important, I don’t think people realize the inspiration behind this is to lessen the impact on the landfills. So, I know there’s still controversy, but I think it’s worth giving it a try.” Coun. Heather Latam says it’s time to make this change. “We are understanding that this isn’t for today; it’s for going forward, it’s for our future. We do have a lot of older generation in our town that may consider this really challenging but change doesn’t happen overnight.” Mayor Hilda MacDonald says it’s embarrassing when speaking with other municipalities across the province who have had organics programs for decades. “Guelph has been doing it for 30 years... like shame on us. And when you look at the numbers and you see how the City of Windsor has jumped on this... the rest of us should be darn embarrassed. The county should be like ‘let’s be more forward thinking’. This is about thinking about the future for our children and our grandchildren.” This change would only affect regular household garbage, with organics collected weekly and recycling continuing every two weeks. Administration will also prepare a report on the cost of non-organic pickup, such as diaper collection. The Town of Tecumseh will also shift to biweekly garbage collection in February 2027. All of the organic waste collected through the green bin program is sent to Seacliff Energy in Leamington, where it’s used to produce liquid fertilizer.
