SIMPLE SOLUTIONS "NO MOW MAY" and "SIMCOE COUNTY YARD WASTE SCHEDULE"

Cost: $ — Low

Difficulty: ★ — Simple

Potential Benefit: High

Issue:

It’s a great idea to help our pollinators by being part of the No Mow May movement.  The grass and flowers grow as pollinators become active again after the winter.

It becomes a problem when:

(a)    By-law officers start attending properties on or after June 1^st with notices that the grass is too long

(b)    Seasonal residents may not want to drive up to mow their lawns on June 1^st

(c)    Permanent residents may work long hours, or must commute, and it’s simply not possible to cut the grass until the weekend

(d)    Most importantly, it’s a problem when Simcoe County’s Waste Management Schedule does not include any Yard Waste Pick Up during the month of June and the first two weeks of July. That leaves six weeks of yard waste bags subject to the whims of Mother Nature.

You could hire someone to pick up the yard waste bags to take to the dump, but I think that’s an unnecessary expense.

You could load up your vehicle and take the yard waste bags to the dump, but then you’re left to vacuum up the mess in the trunk.

Or, you could be fortunate enough to have a neighbour like Mike who noticed the problem, pulled out his lawn mower, and helped his neighbours.

Simple Solution:

1. Request that Staff formally work with Simcoe County to explore additional yard-waste collections, with a goal of providing at least two June collections and one in July 2027, and report back on the County's response.

2. Direct Staff to review whether a seven-day compliance period, beginning June 1st, can be incorporated into the enforcement process for grass-height violations.

   
   

That will give everyone – permanent residents, seasonal residents, and more mature residents waiting for the grandkids to show up and mow the lawn – a reasonable opportunity to get their yard waste into the big brown paper bags.

Thanks for listening!

August 27^th, 2026