Rastas Howard figures those numbers are low because all homes received 10 free bag tags in a calendar before the program launched, and extra bags at the curb have been picked up.

"We haven't been strict with the bag limit yet," she said. "It will become much more strict as of May."

The City of Waterloo also reported a spike in household waste in public garbage cans since the new collection rules launched.

"It's almost every neighbourhood across the city," said Rhonda-Lee Fetterly, park technologist for Waterloo. "It's exploded."

Along with city staff having to deal with more garbage tossed into trash bins in parks and neighbourhoods, complaints are up.

"Garbage is being dumped everywhere," Fetterly said.

Rastas Howard said she hasn't heard from the regional operations centre about a big bump in illegally-dumped waste brought in by the cities. The region has an agreement with the cities where they collect that garbage and drop it off at the landfill site at no charge.

However, she said the region wouldn't know about household waste disposed of in parks or other public containers because those are emptied by city-hired contractors.

"We did potentially expect this to happen," she said. "Hopefully, it's the kind of thing that does drop off after a bit."

Other municipalities experienced a brief spike in additional dumping by residents when changes were introduced, but that was temporary and soon went back to regular levels.

Illegal dumping is, unfortunately, a reality that the cities and region has been dealing with long before the collection changes, Rastas Howard said.

"There's always been occasional dumping."

For those who missed out on picking up a green bin before the region's supply ran out, more will soon be available. The region is getting a delivery of green bins this weekend, and they will be available for pick up closer to the end of the week.

jweidner@therecord.com ,

Twitter: @WeidnerRecord