Garbage collection once a week: Restaurant owners angry

A new collection schedule in the borough of Ville-Marie instead of twice a week doesn’t suit merchants who complain about the lack of solutions the city offers.

In this sector of Montreal, Tuesday collection is maintained, while Friday collection has been replaced by compost collection since the beginning of the month.

The city justifies the move by explaining that roughly half of the trash can be composted.

But businesses need to deal with excess waste and find ways to save it.

“The city offers us the solution of building a cold room at great cost to store the waste, but we don’t have the space,” says Martin Guimond, owner of the Saint-Bock brewery.

“Otherwise, we can put garbage in the refrigerators that are used to store customers’ food, and I don’t think customers will be happy to put compost next to their tomatoes and burgers,” he continues.

Many merchants on rue Saint-Denis in the Latin Quarter have decided to store their trash in the alleys behind the commercial artery.

This situation has the effect of exacerbating Montreal’s rat problem, which is having a field day in merchants’ garbage.

Watch the full explanation in the video above.