Ottawa's new waste trucks have two bins and scoops to gather green bin and recycling waste at the same time. (Giacomo Panico/CBC)

The city of Ottawa is gearing up for the switch in six weeks to bi-weekly garbage collection.

Beginning Oct. 29, city crews will only collect curbside residential garbage every two weeks, while green bin compost garbage collection will continue to be weekly.

The city said it will soon release details about a special collection service for diapers and incontinence products, with residents able to register to have the city collect those waste products every week.

The changes don't affect condominium and mid- to high-rise apartment buildings.

To implement the changes, the city said it will need to change the collection day for 158,000 homes and said it plans to send notices to affected residents.

The city also launched an online tool that will send a reminder to residents the day before waste is collected either by email, telephone or through Twitter.

Environment committee chair Maria McRae said the city will also use one truck to collect both the green bins and either the blue or black box, depending on the week.

She said all of these changes will mean fewer trucks on the road as well as savings for the city. The changes will also help divert waste from landfills.

"We're saving $10 million a year and we're reducing the need to site a new landfill, and I find it ironic that some of the people that don't like bi-weekly pickup are also fighting the Carp [Road] landfill and we can't have it both ways," said McRae.

In 2011 the city diverted about 44 per cent of household waste from landfills through recycling and other waste-diversion programs.

The decision to switch to bi-weekly garbage pickup is expected to increase the diversion rate to 53 per cent by the end of 2013.