Bins left overflowing nearly a week as Toronto’s private trash collectors work to clear backlog

The city vowed Friday that Green For Life, its private trash collector, would pick up the waste from 99.5% of residents by end-of-day Friday, and the rest on Saturday.

But on Monday afternoon, green bins and recycling bins remained full to overflowing in at least one area of the city — along an alleyway serving more than a dozen homes between Indian Grove and Indian Road Crescent in Toronto’s High Park neighbourhood, including the home of a National Post reporter.

Green For Life got off to a bumpy start last week as Toronto’s new private garbage collection agency picking up trash between Yonge Street and the Humber River. In a typical week, about 200 Toronto residents call the city with complaints about garbage pickup; last week the city received 1,044 such calls — not including calls to councillors.

“Part of it is growing pains, we understand that,” said Councillor Adam Vaughan in the Trinity-Spadina area. “But the other part of it is that there are rules in place for a reason, and those rules seem to be ignored.”

Mr. Vaughan said the trucks have containers at the bottom that collect “garbage juice” that is squeezed out during the compacting process. When the liquid in these containers reaches a certain level, trucks must dump their waste before returning to finish their route. But GFL trucks are spilling juice onto streets, he charged.

“In a place like Kensington Market or Chinatown, it’s putrid. When that spills onto residential streets, the residue remains for days if they don’t get a street washing or a good, strong rainstorm…. It’s either indifference to the rules or else they’re badly trained. Either way, it’s an unacceptable breach of practice,” he said.

Councillors Sarah Doucette, Mike Layton and Joe Mihevc also said they had received complaints. Mr. Layton called the customer service “horrendous” and Ms. Doucette said new routes are no excuse for the drivers, because they should have maps.

Meanwhile, in High Park, homeowner Justine Whelan anticipated GFL might forget the alleyway when collecting waste on neighbouring streets. So she called the company on Friday in advance of the scheduled pickup to remind them.

“I thought I would be proactive, because I support the privatized garbage,” she said.

Despite this, sodden cardboard rested atop blue bins crammed full of cans and bottles in the alley, which reeked of rotting food waste by Monday afternoon.

Frustrated by the pileup, Ms. Whelan’s husband ultimately took his family’s waste to the dump, she said.

Reached on his cellphone, Patrick Dovigi, chief executive at GFL, refused to answer questions.

“We’re not commenting any more. We really have nothing to say.”

Original Article
Source: national post
Author: Megan O'Toole and Vidya Kauri