Guelph, Ont., August 24, 2016– The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) awarded the City of Guelph with the 2016 Gold Excellence Award in the Collection Systems category at the Association’s annual conference held in Indianapolis, Indiana yesterday.
“The City of Guelph is honoured to receive the Gold Excellence Award for our curbside collection system,” says Heather Connell, manager of Integrated Services, Solid Waste Resources. “Our collection and processing of residential curbside waste—successfully driven by our residents’ diligent three-steam sorting—has enabled Guelph to achieve the highest waste diversion rate in Ontario.”
Vivian De Giovanni, supervisor of Program Development with Solid Waste Resources, received the award on behalf of the City for the Automatic Cart-Based Collection System entry.

Guelph converted from manual bag-based curbside collection to a fully automatic cart-based curbside collection system in phases from 2012 to 2014. The automatic collection system successfully reduced the collection fleet by four trucks, which resulted in operational savings of over $460,000.

Stakeholder support and adoption was essential to the success of the program. A survey of Guelph households, conducted in 2013, revealed 80 per cent of residents using waste carts were satisfied with the City’s automated collection system when compared to the previous system.

About Guelph’s Solid Waste Resources

Solid Waste Resources manages the collection, processing, diversion and disposal of Guelph’s organic, recyclable, household hazardous and other solid waste through the delivery of innovative public services. The department provides waste management services to residential and commercial customers. These services build on Guelph’s leadership in waste management for an environmentally and economically sustainable future.

About SWANA’s Excellence Awards Program

The Excellence Awards Program recognizes outstanding solid waste programs and facilities that advance the practice of environmentally and economically sound solid waste management through their commitment to utilizing effective technologies and processes in system design and operations, advancing worker and community health and safety, and implementing successful public education and outreach programs. Programs also must demonstrate that they are fiscally and environmentally responsible through their compliance with all applicable federal, state and local regulations.  

About SWANA

For more than 50 years, the Solid Waste Association of North America has been the leading professional association in the solid waste field. The association serves more than 8,400 members throughout North America, and thousands more with conferences, certifications, publications and technical training courses.

For more information:

Heather Connell, Manager, Integrated services

Solid Waste Resources, Environmental Services

519-822-1260 extension 2082

heather.connell@guelph.ca