Two years since the problem began, Niagara's garbage woes show no sign of improving, according to a new Niagara Region staff report which shows Emterra Environmental is still falling well short of its collection requirements.

With Emterra only completing trash pickup less than half of the time, the Region has held back more than $1 million in payments to the company for failing to meet its contractual obligations. Some of that money has been used by the Region to hire extra staff to answer calls to its Waste-Info Line and, in some cases, go out and pick up trash Emterra left at the curb.

"When our staff first meets with a resident, sometimes it is not the most pleasant encounter," said Catherine Habermebl, acting commissioner of public works. "But if the situation is resolved to a resident's expectation, they are satisfied."

Even as the Region is preparing to settle on a new garbage collection contract, its problems with Emterra - the company is coming to the end of its unprecedented three-year deal with the Region - continue unabated.

The waste management services report, which will come before the public works committee Tuesday, says Emterra was successful in collecting garbage 38 per cent of the time between May 6 and Sept. 13.

Collection at more than 275,000 properties were missed during that period, representing a "daily average of 4,743 properties not receiving collection on their regular collection day."

As a result, the Region has withheld payments to Emterra worth $131,350 over that time, bringing the total amount of money the municipality has held back from the company for its failures to more than $1 million.

The Region also recently took away part of Emterra's contract for collection in Lincoln and West Lincoln and gave the routes to Canadian Waste Management Inc. That contract runs Jan. 2, 2019, until March 7, 2021.

As it has in the past, Emterra says labour issues and truck breakdowns are the cause of problems. Although the company has tried to improve the situation, the report says its efforts have not been successful.

"To date, Emterra has committed to increasing fleet uptime through truck maintenance improvements, focused strategies to support labour stabilization and reinforced their dedication to a high level of service delivery," the report says. "Unfortunately, these commitments and changes have not had a sustainable impact on the overall contract performance."

Habermebl said four companies are bidding on the next waste collection contract, but she would not say if Emterra is one of them.

She did say the selection process is not the normal bidding war which typically sees the lowest bid get the contract.

This time the Region is using a process called a negotiated bid. On Oct. 17 at a special meeting of council, regional councillors will decide what kind of service they want from the next contract.

Habermebl said council's decision will then be relayed to bidders, who will submit their final proposals for consideration.

"Obviously, when we sign a new contract, our expectation is that the terms of that contract are going to be fulfilled," she said.

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