The switchover to the new biweekly garbage and recycling collection is now underway.
On Tuesday, Earth Day, the new black and blue carts began arriving at the City's storage facility located near the airport.
The carts are made by IPL of Saint-Damien, located about 45 minutes southeast of Quebec City. IPL's distributor, Superior Truck Equipment, Inc., was awarded the contract to supply the carts earlier this year.
The black and blue carts were being unloaded from massive transport trucks and assembled, with IPL distributing and delivering the carts across the city.
According to logistics director Jean-Sebastien Demers of IPL, about 30 per cent of the carts were estimated to arrive Tuesday.
The plan was to continue to deploy the carts at residences across the city over the next week.
"Every hour, we'll have trucks in the streets of this city for the next week," said Demers.
He estimates carts should be placed throughout the city by next Wednesday or Thursday.
The new carts will replace communal bins. Those bins were being removed by crews from back alleys Tuesday.
City residents should find the new carts to be extremely durable.
"They are really really tough," said Demers. The life expectancy is between 15 and 20 years, he said, "and they have a ten-year warranty."
He notes the carts, which are made of plastic, should withstand prairie extremes in temperature.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot and Mayor Ian Hamilton were on hand to see the contractors unload and assemble the new carts at the staging area.
"So far it's looking really good," said Lightfoot, adding "the bins look great, they look very durable, and I'm excited about the rollout."
The City launched a major information campaign and held three open houses on the changeover to the new biweekly regime. Lightfoot said many comments from residents at the meetings seemed positive.
"Everybody that I've talked to there were very positive and very happy with the size of the bins," said Lightfoot. He also pledged the city will listen to concerns from residents "to see exactly how we can fit their needs and do what needs to be done for them."
