WATERLOO REGION - Green bin use reached its highest level ever in Waterloo Region during the first month of the new waste collection rules.

"We've never had this many residents on the program," said Cari Rastas Howard, waste management program manager for the region. "Many, many people have changed their habits."

Green bin tonnage was up by about 50 per cent in March over the same period last year. Blue box tonnage increased by six per cent, according to a regional report released Friday.

"We were not necessarily expecting to see such a big jump at the beginning," Rastas Howard said. "We're very happy to see it. We hope it can be sustained."

She hopes people now on board with the green bin will stick with it, in particular with the challenges of the warm summer months.

Under the new collection schedule introduced in March, garbage is picked up alternate weeks, while recycling and green bins are picked up at the curb every week. The changes standardized services across the region.

More than 20,000 people got the My Waste app for their customized collection schedule, according to the report.

Calls to the regional call centre related to waste peaked at nearly 7,000 in February as the launch approached, and dropped off dramatically through March.

Just over 200 homes in the region received medical exemptions to place more garbage curbside for collection.

Along with the changes in collection, the region introduced garbage tags for occasions when homes generate more garbage than the allowable limit. The sheets of five tags are $10. In February, 221 sheets were sold; 705 were sold in March.

Rastas Howard figures those numbers are low because all homes received 10 free bag tags in a calendar before the program launched, and extra bags at the curb have been picked up.

"We haven't been strict with the bag limit yet," she said. "It will become much more strict as of May."

The City of Waterloo also reported a spike in household waste in public garbage cans since the new collection rules launched.

"It's almost every neighbourhood across the city," said Rhonda-Lee Fetterly, park technologist for Waterloo. "It's exploded."

Along with city staff having to deal with more garbage tossed into trash bins in parks and neighbourhoods, complaints are up.

"Garbage is being dumped everywhere," Fetterly said.

Rastas Howard said she hasn't heard from the regional operations centre about a big bump in illegally-dumped waste brought in by the cities. The region has an agreement with the cities where they collect that garbage and drop it off at the landfill site at no charge.

However, she said the region wouldn't know about household waste disposed of in parks or other public containers because those are emptied by city-hired contractors.

"We did potentially expect this to happen," she said. "Hopefully, it's the kind of thing that does drop off after a bit."

Other municipalities experienced a brief spike in additional dumping by residents when changes were introduced, but that was temporary and soon went back to regular levels.

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Illegal dumping is, unfortunately, a reality that the cities and region has been dealing with long before the collection changes, Rastas Howard said.

"There's always been occasional dumping."

For those who missed out on picking up a green bin before the region's supply ran out, more will soon be available. The region is getting a delivery of green bins this weekend, and they will be available for pick up closer to the end of the week.