Officials in Peel Region say that residents should leave their garbage at the curb despite a strike by trash collectors that is affecting as many as 160,000 households.

Employees with Emterra Environmental began picketing outside the company’s main gates on Britannia Road in Mississauga early this morning after Emterra and Liuna Local 183, the union which represents collectors, failed to reach a deal by the midnight strike deadline.

As a result of the strike, residential trash collection has been disrupted in about 60 per cent of Peel Region, including all of Caledon, areas west of Highway 410 and north of Bovaird Drive in Brampton, and homes west of the Credit River in Mississauga.

Officials with Peel Region, however, say that residents who were supposed to have their trash collected today should leave it out in the hopes that it will be picked up in the coming days.

Peel Region has also extended the hours at its five community recycling centres and is waiving the fees for residents wishing to drop off their waste, recycling and organic materials there.

“The contractor is still trying to get trucks out on the streets. They weren’t able to get any on the street today but they are going to try again tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday,” Director of Waste Management Norman Lee told CP24 on Thursday afternoon. “We may have a new message come out on the weekend for residents effective Monday morning if the trucks on the street are insufficient.”

Garbage collection in the southeast part of Peel Region is managed by Progressive Waste Solutions and homes serviced by that company will not be affected by the labour disruption.

LIUNA spokesman Jason Ottey told CP24 Thursday that when the last offer was rejected by the members, the union went back to Emterra and asked to continue negotiations.

"At the end of the day, we are trying to reach a collective agreement with Emterra. We did not want to strike. We stayed here until as late as possible," Ottey said.

"We said we are willing to sit down and talk and negotiate. Emterra never came to the table and returned our offer so we ask for some patience and some understanding and hopefully we can get this thing completed."

The main issue, he added, is that workers are not being offered the same compensation as workers at Progressive Waste Solutions.

"I can’t really quantify the difference between the two agreements. All I know is it is substantial and significant enough for our members to say that what was offered was not good enough," Ottey added.

Emterra released a statement on Thursday, defending its compensation package.

“We appreciate and recognize that they (our employees) are an integral part of our success,” Emterra said in a news release.

“We believe that this commitment is reflected in the compensation package that was presented.”

The company, which employs approximately 140 garbage collectors, added that it plans to do whatever it can to minimize the impact of a labour disruption on its customers.

"We are doing our utmost to continue providing the full range of solid waste collection services in a safe, reliable, and sustainable manner that our customers and residents have come to expect, even during the current labour disruption," the statement from Emterra read.

It is unclear if Emterra has a contingency plan to continue curbside pickup during the strike.

Ottey said employees are prepared to stick out the strike for as long as it takes to get a fair offer.

"We are prepared to go the complete distance for this. It is very important to our members," he said.

"Right now we have this picket line established and we’ll see how things develop through the course of days and hopefully not weeks."