A city official said they expect garbage collection to be back on schedule by Sunday evening after two weeks of delays throughout the city.

The city gave Emterra, the company responsible for Winnipeg’s new automated trash collection system, a deadline of Sunday evening to catch up on late pick up. Otherwise the city said it would replace their contract and stick them with the bill.

That threat appears to have worked. The company put extra staff and trucks on the road Saturday and Sunday to meet the deadline. So far the city said they are on track to catch up.

But Fort Richmond homeowner Alex Wiebe said her trash was supposed to be picked up Friday, and it’s still sitting in bins at the edge of her property.

Wiebe said she likes the new system, but thinks the city dropped the ball on its implementation.

“It’s cleaner, but time wise it’s taking too long,” said Wiebe. “They didn’t test areas. They should have tested areas instead of dropping on the whole city.”

A city official said crews are still working to catch up on homes in St. Vital and Fort Richmond, but should be able to meet the deadline the city imposed to get collection back on schedule.

For homeowner Jeremy Fung, being back on schedule after two weeks of delays isn’t good enough.

“I don’t like it,” said Fung. “It’s only been two weeks, but I think the system should be reviewed and doing better.

Other homeowners like Ryan Penner said he’s willing to wait for the company to get their act together.

“I think there is some time to wait yet to get all the kings out. I’m willing to wait,” said Penner. “Maybe if you talk to me next year and things still aren’t being picked up on the right day it might be a different story.”

Timing isn’t the only citizen concern, though. Homeowner Jimmy Yu said his garbage carts have already been damaged by one of the trucks. “Hopefully it won’t happen that often,” said Yu.

Since homeowners are responsible for paying for and replacing carts if they go missing or are destroyed, Yu doesn’t want to see it happen again.

“For the long term there is a gain there, but for the short term there is definitely pain there,” said Yu.

Pain for both residents and the company trying to get trash from people’s homes to Winnipeg’s landfill.

Emterra has already faced financial penalties for late collection in neighbourhoods where autobins were replaced in August.