The County of Essex is looking at regional garbage collection.
Currently, individual municipalities contract out their own trash services but with the province mandating organic waste pick up by 2025, county administration wants to issue a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the combined collection of garbage, recycle and food waste in order to streamline services and find efficiencies.
A report on the issue is expected to come to County Council sometime in mid-September.
The recommendation is that organic waste be picked up weekly, with garbage and recycle trucks making the rounds every other week.
Warden Hilda McDonald says it might make economic sense.
"Up until now, each municipality has been in charge of their own waste" she continued. "We figure, economies of scale could allow for better pricing but council is divided because of the concerns over levels of service within their communities so until some of those questions are answered, we're still trying to come to a consensus."
McDonald adds the recommendation is to pick up food waste every week.
"So organics is really the bulk of your garbage, it's the vegetables and raw waste, the smelly stuff and that gets picked up every week and the rest would be every other week, the black bags and your recycling."
She says that regional collection would help to streamline services.
"We've got trucks going around to bigger areas, then the cost goes down where when we each make our own contract negotiation the prices vary, some pay twice what another municipality does. So if we all go as one, the hope is that it will come in at a better rate then most."
But McDonald admits council is divided on the issue.
"Also in the mandate for organics that does not include industrial, commercial or institutional or ag, so some are bothered by the fact that we're not picking up organics at greenhouses or in institutions such as hospitals and so on, but I believe that's going to come," she said.
The proposal for regional collection services would be for Essex County only, and would not include the City of Windsor.
McDonald says they'll have to wait for tenders to come in to see what the costs are. She says for Leamington, where she's mayor, it may be beneficial but it might not be.