Over a year delay for new garbage pick-up program in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon

New municipality-run waste pick-up programs set to start in a few months have been pushed back more than a year in Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon.

Moving responsibilities for curbside waste collection from the Region of Peel to the three municipalities comes following Ontario’s watered-down dissolution of the region, first announced in 2023.

That promise to break up Peel into independent, stand-alone municipalities was scrapped in favour of shifting financial responsibilities for services like garbage pick-up, roads and wastewater away from regional control.

And while Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon were scheduled to take over waste collection in January, the region says that the transfer has been pushed back to the fall of 2027 – the same time current waste collection contracts with the region are set to expire.

“Peel Regional Council has approved a revised date of (Oct. 1), 2027, to transfer waste collection services from Peel Region to the City of Mississauga, City of Brampton, and Town of Caledon,” the Region said in a release on Tuesday.

The delay comes after a report to Mississauga City Council last week, which said the October 2027 start date “aligns with the start of the new waste collection contracts being awarded by the local municipalities and provides for additional time to properly transition all elements of the service.”

The transfer arrangement will see the three municipalities will assume responsibility for curbside and multi-residential waste collection. The region will keep control of Community Recycling Centres, and “the transfer, processing, and waste disposal services.”

Under the Peel Transition Implementation Act, the three municipalities are slated to take over responsibilities for regional roads and related stormwater infrastructure in July of 2026.

Brampton and Caledon are exploring teaming up to manage waste collection, while Mississauga will go it alone.

Waste management was previously under municipal jurisdiction prior to the ’90s, and the City of Brampton says the transition “will improve service efficiency, streamline decision-making and empower Brampton and Caledon to tailor waste collection services to meet the needs of their growing populations.”

A transition team comprised of staff from the Region of Peel, cities of Mississauga and Brampton, and Town of Caledon “have been actively working at the transfer process and defining future operational and service delivery, employee transition, financial planning and cost-sharing considerations,” the region says.