“When a complaint is received, the town’s waste program administrator will investigate, oftentimes working with the GFL operations team to find a solution,” Newmarket’s Public Works Services Director Chris Kalimootoo said. “In addition, the town and York Region conducts waste audits regularly on our contractors to verify that appropriate processes and procedures are being followed.”

The town, along with the other five northern York Region municipalities that share a contract for waste disposal, meets with GFL to discuss current issues, trends and campaigns to assist with educating residents on the importance of properly disposing waste, recycling, organics and yard waste.

All complaints are documented and discussed during the northern six municipalities' quarterly meetings. GFL’s contract also includes incentives to ensure customer service and finish times are kept to an acceptable standard. All aspects of performance get reviewed regularly.

GFL currently has a contract until 2025 to handle waste disposal for Newmarket, Aurora, King, East Gwillimbury, Georgina and Whitchurch-Stouffville. The amount for the contract is subject to a confidentiality agreement and cannot be released, according to Kalimootoo. However, he did confirm that there are liquidated damages clauses for cross-contamination in the contract, but the town had never had to use it up to this point.

“GFL was fined $1,000 as noted in our contract for liquidated damages for cross-contamination,” he added.

While the fine is better than no action at all, Arkeveld feels the dollar amount would be just a drop in the bucket for a large business like GFL. However, she is encouraging all residents to pay attention to their garbage collection because several $1,000 fines would add up quickly and get the point across.

GFL did not respond to email requests asking if this was a common practice, if the employee was disciplined or if the employee was instructed to put trash and recyclables in one truck to avoid “traffic congestion” on the one-way streets he was servicing.

If residents have a complaint about their waste collection they are encouraged to contact the town at 905-853-5193 or info@newmarket.ca or GFL directly at 1-866-421-5625 or WasteLine@gflenv.com.