Essex County schools will soon partake in the green bin program.
The Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) board has approved a pilot program for eligible schools in the county, with the goal of eventually expanding green bin collection into all schools in Windsor-Essex.
The pilot will coincide with a similar program already underway in Windsor.
When the City of Windsor switched to biweekly garbage collection in October 2025 - the same month the green bin program launched in Phase 1 municipalities - the Greater Essex County District School Board raised concerns over the switch due to the amount of waste within the schools.
The city then introduced green bin collection at its schools, with the program now operating in 35 elementary and secondary schools.
Under the pilot, each participating classroom will have a kitchen catcher for food waste. Those are then emptied into larger green bins at the schools, which are collected weekly by Miller Waste Systems.
Michelle Bishop, General Manager of EWSWA, says it started with about eight schools in Windsor and slowly grew.
“Our goal is at some point to introduce it in all of the schools. However, we need to start a little bit slower and there’s some nuances with being in the schools, but it is very important to us as part of our promotion education of really introducing it to our young learners and those are really the future of waste diversion.”
She says collection is nearly identical to other residents in the community.
“Each of the classrooms has a kitchen catcher and then just like in your home, the kitchen catchers are deposited into the main green bin. They have the same bins as we have here. And then the collector, Miller Waste Systems, goes and does a weekly collection at the schools.”
Bishop says the kids have been doing a great job with the program.
“It has been going very well and we do have the support of the school board and the staff at the schools and we’ve been having success with that. No significant issues with contamination and they have been utilizing the program so it is a nice opportunity to introduce it on the public board in the county.”
She says Miller Waste and the cart provider IPL are supporting the pilot by supplying the green bins and kitchen catchers.
At this time, all other school boards within the region independently contract their waste collection services. The county pilot will initially focus on eligible Greater Essex County District School Board schools but will eventually reach out to other boards once the program is more established.
Bishop adds that EWSWA is also looking at eventually expanding green bin collection to larger multi-residential buildings.