The company contracted by the city and county to handle blue-box pickup is bringing in additional vehicles and staff to help deal with late or missed pickups, but residents should expect delays and missed pickups for a while yet, the city advises.

Emterra Environmental took over the collection of recycling materials Nov. 1. Since then, neighbourhoods have been missed and collected delayed, in some cases by days.

A press release issued by the city Thursday evening states that Emterra is dealing with problems with the new recycling trucks it purchased, and additional vehicles will be used.

Last week, blue boxes left out during the week were left until Saturday. More delays were reported this week, with a cumulative effect; missed routes on Tuesday meant extra resources were needed Wednesday, causing delays on regular Wednesday routes until Thursday, for instance.

In an email to The Examiner, city communications manager Brendan Wedley said pickup routes do not necessarily mean one truck collects both sides of a street. Many residents reported seeing trucks pick up along one side of a street only.

At the time, a city official told The Examiner that delays were also caused by a crackdown on improperly sorted recyclables, something Emterra is enforcing, which adds time to the pickup routes.

City residents are asked to be patient, as more delays are expected.

"Residents may experience delays in recycling collection until Nov. 25 while Emterra Environmental works through its transition as the City of Peterborough's new recycling collection and processing service provider."

Residents are being asked to leave their recycling curbside overnight or put it back out the next morning by 7 a.m. if their recycling isn't collected on their regular scheduled day due to incomplete collection routes.

For recycling collection on Fridays, the next-day service would see it picked up Saturday.

Collection takes place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. For more information, visit www.peterborough.ca/recycling.