City of Peterborough Warning Residents of Potential Sewer Line and Storm Fraud Attempts

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The City of Peterborough warns of a potential fraud attempt after receiving reports that residents have been contacted by a business claiming to be contracted by the City to clean sewer lines or address storm water prevention.

Stock Photo.

The current scam involves several concerning elements:

  • asking residents whether they will be home within a certain time period

  • coming to residents’ doors asking to check their basements and yards

  • pressuring residents to sign contracts and pay upwards of $3,000 under the guise that the government will reimburse them

  • showing fake credentials, names and phone numbers

  • targeting seniors who have home phone lines

Residents are reminded to never provide personal information to unsolicited callers or people knocking at their door without verifying their identity and the validity of their business.

Residents can report scam calls to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501 or visit Peterborough Police Services Fraud page https://www.peterboroughpolice.com/en/learn/fraud.aspx for more information.

Local victims of fraud should contact the Peterborough Police non-emergency number 705-876-1122.

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Peterborough Winter Parking Restrictions Lifted Beginning April 1

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Winter parking restrictions for road maintenance within Peterborough are being lifted on April 1.

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This includes prohibited parking all City streets from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. The fine for a violation is $25.

During snow-clearing operations, vehicles cannot park or stop on any City street as it typically takes place between midnight and 8 a.m.

Vehicles must be removed from city streets throughout the day and/or evening during snowstorms. Free overnight parking is available in municipal parking garages and surface lots. Drivers can use the parking garage entrance ticket for a free ride home on Peterborough Transit.

The fine for a violation is $80 and the vehicle will be towed to one of two locations;

  • vehicles parked north of Parkhill Road will be towed to Milroy Park, 242 Milroy Dr.

  • vehicles south of Parkhill Road will be towed to Morrow Park, 171 Lansdowne St. W.

Vehicles must be picked up within 24 hours. All unclaimed vehicles will be towed to an impound yard at the owner’s expense.

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City of Peterborough Launches Interactive MyAddress Verification Tool

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The City of Peterborough has launched an interactive online tool, myAddress Verification, to quickly verify officially recognized addresses in Peterborough announced on Tuesday.

The myAddress Verification tool was created by the City of Peterborough’s Geomatics/Mapping Division. Photo by Keegan Beekers.

The addresses are used by first responders to locate people quickly and accurately for emergency calls.

Residents can go online and use the tool to verify a property address and ensure that additional units at a single address are accounted for.

Data collected is also being provided to external service providers like 911 Emergency Services, Canada Post and Hydro One according to the City.

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Green Bins, Clear Bags and Garbage Collection Plan in The City of Peterborough

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With the start of the weekly Green Bin program for household organic waste collection on Oct. 31, the City of Peterborough will at the same time shift to every-other-week garbage collection and requiring the use of clear bags for curbside garbage collection.

photo courtesy of the city of peterborough.

City Council approved the waste management service changes as part of the Waste Management Master Plan Update on Feb. 27.

Collection for household organic waste (Green Bin program) and recycling (Blue Bin program) will be provided weekly, which will greatly reduce the amount of waste that goes into the garbage. Garbage amounts are expected to reduce by between 40 per cent and 50 per cent, which will allow garbage collection to shift to an every-other-week schedule that is common in other communities that have Green Bin programs.

The use of clear bags for garbage will support waste diversion efforts and improve worker safety for garbage collectors by helping to avoid incidents with sharp objects in garbage bags.

Together, the waste management service changes are expected to bolster the community’s waste diversion rate from about 52 per cent currently to between 76 per cent and 83 per cent by 2030. Increasing the waste diversion rate to 75 per cent will add another five to six years of life to the landfill.

Public education and awareness activities will be taking place over the next eight months leading up to the start of the Green Bin program and the other changes for waste management services.

Information on how to participate will be shared through local television, radio, newspaper, and online media sources as well as on the City website at peterborough.ca/ReduceWaste. Program education resources will include pamphlets, a waste management calendar, a what’s-in-what’s-out sheet that details what organic waste can go in the Green Bin, and other helpful resources, including the City’s waste management app “City Waste“ that features a collection calendar and a tool for what goes where when you sorting garbage, recyclables and, beginning Oct. 31, organic waste.

To kick off the program, informational material will be distributed along with Green Bins to all eligible properties starting in September.

The Downtown Business Improvement Area, apartment buildings, and private road serviced developments are not included in this phase of the program implementation.

Green Bin program

As part of the launch of the Green Bin program, a Green Bin for curbside collection and a smaller container for use in the kitchen will be delivered to all eligible households. The program is being rolled out to most residential properties, except for multi-residential and condominium properties that receive private waste collection services.

The Green Bin for curbside collection is a heavy-duty pest-proof cart with a locking mechanism on the lid.

Delivery of Green Bins to eligible properties will begin in September and is expected to be completed by mid-October. After receiving their Green Bins, residents are encouraged to wait until about Oct. 20 before starting to use them to store food waste for collection.

Weekly curbside Green Bin collection will start Oct. 31.

About 40 per cent to 50 per cent of current garbage material is organic waste that will be diverted from the garbage stream with the introduction of organic waste collection.

Every-other-week garbage collection

Taking out 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the current garbage generated by households and diverting it to the new weekly Green Bin program starting Oct. 31 will mean garbage collection can shift to an every-other-week schedule.

Along with being less garbage, the waste that remains in the garbage stream for collection will no longer include the food waste and pet waste – removing most of the smelly materials from the garbage can.

Every-other-week garbage collection is common in communities that have Green Bin programs, such as:

  • Barrie

  • Durham

  • Guelph

  • Niagara Region

  • Ottawa

  • Peel

  • Simcoe County

  • Toronto

  • Waterloo

A waste management calendar with a map illustrating collection zones and clearly marked collection dates for each zone will be provided to each eligible household before the changes start on Oct. 31. The online tool at peterborough.ca/ReduceWaste and the City’s Waste Management App will be updated to reflect the new collection schedules.

It is expected that the number of garbage bags that each household can put out for collection every other week will be set at four bags from the current limit of two lifts.

Garbage collection in the Downtown Business Improvement Area will not be affected by the waste management service changes, including schedules and requirements for putting out garbage for collection.

Clear bags for garbage

The City is requiring the use of clear bags for curbside garbage collection to improve worker safety. Clear bags help protect garbage collectors from sharp objects that are hidden when inside opaque bags.

Using clear bags also supports waste diversion efforts. The City will accept garbage bags that have some recyclable materials in the garbage – a reasonable approach will be taken to encourage diverting waste from garbage – but using clear bags will allow for education efforts if there is clearly no attempt at sorting out materials for recycling.

Residents will still be able to use a small opaque bag, such as a grocery bag, as a “privacy bag” that could be put into the larger clear bag. The privacy bag could be used for items such as medical prescription containers and other confidential items that a resident may wish to prevent from being seen when the garbage bag is placed at the curbside for collection.

Switching to clear garbage bags has been shown to increase the amount of waste diverted through recycling and composting programs. Waste audits in Peterborough in 2020-2021 found that about 10 per cent of material in curbside garbage bags was recyclable material.

Residents can switch to using clear garbage bags at any time before the official change on Oct. 31. Residents are encouraged to use up their supply of existing opaque garbage bags over the next eight months before the change is required.

All eight townships in Peterborough County already require clear bags for garbage collection. Clear bag garbage supplies should be available in local stores. The City will be contacting suppliers and sharing information for stores ahead of the waste management service changes.

Recycling collection

There are no changes planned to the current weekly recycling collection program, which will continue to be provided on a weekly basis.

The Material Recycling Facility at 390 Pido Rd. has an area for dropping off materials that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

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One Roof Community Centre Extends Service Hours Feb. 23 to 25 Due to Weather Forecast

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One Roof Community Centre is extending its hours of service to 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. beginning Thursday until Saturday, Feb. 25 due to cold temperatures and a winter storm in the forecast for the area.

file photo.

One Roof Community Centre, which provides warming room services on behalf of the City and County of Peterborough, is located at 99 Brock St. A meal is provided between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. A full description of meals and other services that One Roof provides is online.

Information about how to protect yourself from extreme cold is available on the Peterborough Public Health website.

Emergency shelters are open and available to people experiencing homelessness who require emergency overnight shelter. If shelter capacity is full, temporary alternative accommodations for overnight stays may be made available. Please contact the shelters first for space:

Emergency After Hours Services related to emergency shelter are available through the Social Services by calling 705-926-0096. The Peterborough Social Services website has full details.

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City Council Approves Changes To Garbage Pickup; Clear Bags and Bi-Weekly Trash Pickup

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City Council has endorsed adopting the clear bags and bi-weekly trash pickup as part of an the Waste Management Master Plan Update during a meeting on Monday night.

File Photo.

The summary of changes in waste management services are the following:

  • Requiring the use of clear garbage bags for waste collection

  • Moving to every-other-week residential garbage collection starting Oct. 31 at the same time as the introduction of weekly Green Bin (household organic waste) collection service that will reduce the bulk of current garbage material

  • Preparing for the provincially-directed switch to producer-responsible recycling program delivery, instead of it being a municipal service, starting Jan. 1

  • Bringing a report to Council in the future to amend the Waste Collection Enforcement By-law to include new definitions of the waste stream, collection requirements, and penalties for non-compliance as an option if public education efforts are not effective in changing disposal behaviours

The changes would result in garbage collection would shift to every other week while Green Bin and Blue Bin collection would be provided weekly.

A ‘clear bag’ program refers to the use of a garbage bag that is transparent or see-through. According to the City, use of clear bags for garbage encourages waste diversion in several ways:

  • Clear bag Programs improves worker safety and allows Transfer Station attendants the ability to conduct a quick assessment of the contents within the clear bag(s) to ensure that no recyclable or hazardous items are in the bag.

  • Clear bags can serve as a reminder if people forget to separate out these materials from their garbage, as the clear bag allows residents to see what is being thrown out.

  • Clear bags prompt people to reflect on their waste disposal habits and encourage them to consider waste diversion options.

  • Clear bags can assist in with the enforcing of municipal material disposal bans by allowing waste collectors to monitor for compliance and reject any bags containing banned items.

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One Roof Community Centre Extends Service Hours From Tuesday Until Saturday Due to Weather Forecast

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One Roof Community Centre’s warming room is extending its hours of service starting at 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. beginning Tuesday until Saturday due to cold temperatures in the Peterborough forecast announced on Monday.

File Photo.

Meal service runs from 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Emergency shelters are open and available to people experiencing homelessness who require emergency overnight shelter.

  • YES Shelter for Youth and Families, 705-748-3851, 196 Brock St.

  • Brock Mission men’s shelter, 705-748-4766, 120 Murray St.

  • Cameron House women’s shelter, 705-748-4766, 739 Chemong Rd.

  • Overflow Shelter at 210 Wolfe St., overnight phone 705-761-1875

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City of Peterborough Lifts Significant Weather Event Declaration

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City of Peterborough has lifted its Significant Weather Event declaration that was issued on Dec. 22, 2022 from last week’s major winter storm announced on Thursday.

The declaration was lifted effectively at 2 p.m.

File Photo.

Peterborough received 31.4 millimetres of snow from Dec. 22 to 23 with wind gusts reaching a high of 71 kilometres per hour on Saturday according to Environment Canada. The high winds caused snow drifts on roads, sidewalks and trails.

Declaring a Significant Weather Event is a way to advise residents, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists conditions on roads, sidewalks and bike lanes can be expected to be delayed compared to typical levels of service, due to the severity of a storm according to the City.

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City Seeking Peterborough Airport Restaurant Operator

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The City of Peterborough is seeking an established Food Service operator at the Peterborough Airport through a Request for Proposals process announced on Wednesday.

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The restaurant was constructed as part of the Air Terminal building in 2011. The building has three wings made up of a City-owned restaurant facility with a capacity for 50 patrons, an airport lobby and administrative offices for Airport management and operations.

The City of Peterborough is seeking to establish a long-term operating agreement to provide food services at the airport.

Anyone interested in submitting proposals to provide food services at the airport can find information regarding RFP-32-22 online at Bids and Tenders - City Of Peterborough.

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City of Peterborough to Collect Christmas Trees During Regular Garbage Collection For January

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The City of Peterborough has started to accept natural Christmas trees as part of regular garbage collection pending weather conditions announced Monday.

Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The City is reminding residents to do the following before having their trees collected for compost:

  • Remove all tree decorations

  • Place it at the curb in a clear and visible location

  • Not place their trees in bags

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