The City of Windsor and the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (DWBIA) continue to look at ways of making the downtown core cleaner and more welcoming.
As part of the the Strengthen the Core: (STC) Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan, a one-year pilot program has been launched to improve downtown waste management.
Under the new program, businesses currently taking part in the DWBIA's "Curb the Trash" program will receive cutting-edge lockable rollout garbage carts at no additional costs.
The new garbage containers are 95-gallon bins and are designed with gravity-lock technology that are easy to use and secure against tampering.
According to the city and DWBIA, the "locked bins prevent scavenging and waste spills while an automated unlocking mechanism ensures smooth collection and relocking, keeping streets clean and hassle-free, with improved rodent control measures in place."
Jim Leether is manager of environmental services for the city and says participating businesses have keys for their bins and once the key is removed the bins are locked.
"When the waste collectors come along to tip the bin, they hook it up to the back of the truck and lift it,"says Leether. "It's called gravitational lock so the bin without the key can unlock itself once it's up side down. Part of the shared program with the DWBIA is we do return the bins to where they were picked up and they are chained to the walls so that does help the bins not walk away or get flipped over inadvertently."
He says between 20 to 25 businesses are already enrolled in the program.
"The cost of each bin is around $70 and we purchased around 125 to support the initial rollout of this," he says.
.@CityWindsorON & @DWBIA launch a one-year pilot program aimed at improving downtown waste management. #cklw @AM800CKLW pic.twitter.com/3rb5q9cdZk
— Rob Hindi (@rhindi800) December 19, 2024
Leether says the bins have barcodes.
"We do track them and they're all registered to the businesses that are involved so if one of them does happen to walk or go down the street to another business we'll be able to figure that out very quickly," says Leether. "These are the only bins in the city of Windsor that are branded with the city of Windsor on the side of them so they're very easy to identify and they're very focused in the downtown core here obviously for the Strengthen the Core initiative."
The one-year pilot program is now up and running.
City officials say they will evaluation the program throughout the year.
Ward 3 city councillor Renaldo Agostino says the new program is another step in the right direction.
He feels more businesses in the core will sign up for the "Curb the Trash" program with the new pilot being launched.