Durham Works

Trenchless technology making construction easier on everyone

Last year, a tunnel boring machine was used at Baseline Road and Courtice Road in the Municipality of Clarington to dig an 817 metre long tunnel for sanitary sewer services to planned development areas. The project was completed in partnership with Ward & Burke Construction Ltd.

This type of trenchless technology involves underground construction work that requires fewer trenches or no continuous trenches and is being used by the Region to install utilities such as water and sanitary sewer pipes....

Recycling garbage from the past: Blackstock landfill mining project

Landfill mining is an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and leachate impacts on groundwater quality, divert material not previously separated for recycling, recover energy from reclaimed waste, and eliminate the need for long-term groundwater monitoring.

Durham began landfill mining activity in October 2018 at the closed Blackstock landfill site in the Township of Scugog. 

Waste was excavated and placed into a rotating trommel screen to mechanically separate waste from soil. Landfilled...

Was your garbage or recycling not collected?

Waste collection staff do their very best to pick up your materials. Remember, they do not pick up material that has not been properly set out or sorted. 

To ensure your materials are collected, remember the following:

• Set out your items by 7 a.m. on your collection day. Collection crews start at 7 a.m. and their routes may change without notice, so you may not have the same collection time every week.
• Stay within the weight limit of 20 kilograms (44 pounds) for each blue box, green bin, garbage...

Blue box ins and outs

Not sure where it goes? Let us help you. Use Know Before You Throw to search for information on how to properly dispose of waste items.

Here is a reminder of common household items that can and can not be put in your blue box:

Plastic containers

• Plastic bottles
• Bakery and cookie trays
• Fruit and vegetable containers
• Plastic egg cartons
• Takeout food containers
• Single serve yogurt and pudding cups
• No plastic bags
• No Tupperware-type containers
• No hangers
• No plastic straws or cutlery
• No motor oil...

Please don’t use oversized garbage cans

Oversized garbage cans increase the risk of shoulder and back injuries to garbage collectors. These cans easily hold more than the allowed 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of garbage and are difficult to handle, making it unsafe for collectors to lift. Only bylaw-approved garbage cans will be collected by garbage collectors. Each garbage collector picks up from as many as 1,000 households per day! 

According to Durham Region’s Waste Management By-law:

• Garbage cans must hold less than 125 litres (30 gallons).
• Maximum...