WEST CARLETON – Starting June 1, the garbage trucks in West Carleton will be a different colour.

Miller Waste Systems won the tendering process for trash removal in West Ottawa near the end of last year and the new contract begins Monday, June 1. Miller will be taking over from Waste Management which has served the contract for the last 10 years.

“That’s been going on since the end of last year,” Coun. Eli El-Chantiry told West Carleton Online yesterday (May 28). “They put the tender our and Waste Management was not successful.”

West Carleton residents received an email on May 26 informing the community of the change.

“Starting on June 1, a new contractor will be collecting waste in your area, which could affect when your waste is picked up during the day,” the City of Ottawa email reads. “Please note your collection day has not changed. Materials are to be placed at the curb no later than 7 a.m. on collection day. The contractor has until 6 p.m. to collect your items.”

West Carleton is in the area the City of Ottawa refers to as Zone 1 for waste services which includes Stittsville, Kanata and Bay Ward as well. Waste Management (WM) is well known in the West Carleton area. The company bought the West Carleton Environmental Centre around 1996.

WM has also held the Zone 1 waste services contract for roughly the last 10 years. In the fall of 2019, the company was fined more than $200,000 by the city for failing to live up to its contract after missing a number of garbage pick-ups.

WM has also been a regular contributor to the West Carleton community, and El-Chantiry wanted to point that out.

“I would like to give a shout out to Waste Management,” he said. “They helped out during the tornado, the flooding and they sponsored the concert series. I hope Miller is as good a corporate community member as Waste Management was.”

WM has been a major sponsor of the Fitzroy Music in the Park concert series since its inception 25 years ago, taking a couple years off recently but coming back last year and would have been this year as well if the event wasn’t recently cancelled due to COVID-19. WM has also contributed  to many other events in the community.

While WM’ trucks are known for their green and yellow paint schemes, Miller’s brown and yellow trucks are also a familiar sight in the Ottawa area at various construction and road project sites.

Miller Waste Systems Inc. has been in operation since 1961. Miller has been providing governments and industries with a wide range of services in the provinces of Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Manitoba. Miller operates out of 30 locations. From these 30 locations, Miller services a variety of collection areas, from the very urban in downtown Toronto, to the very rural in North Bay. 

As a family owned business, Miller provides residential curbside waste and recycling collection, IC&I collection to more than 50 municipalities in Canada.