High-Rise Waste

As Toronto scrambles to reduce the amount of garbage being produced, you can only shake your head to learn that people living in the city’s 5,100 multi-family dwellings (apartments, townhomes, condos, etc.) are only recycling 13% of their garbage. Can you imagine how many trucks they could take off the road going to landfill sites in Michigan if the recycling rates in those buildings was increased to 50%. As much as you can encourage people to recycle, garbage is becoming such an important, expensive and big issue, it may not be long before we see mandatory recycling and people fined for not doing enough.

Tidying Up Toronto

Christopher Hume has an interesting story in today’s Toronto Star about the city’s efforts to “rearrange the furniture”. It looks at the city’s renewed focus on improving the the street-scape when it comes to things such as newspaper boxes, transit stops and garbage bins. The number of newspaper boxes is a great example of urban furniture gone out of control when you realize some corners can have a dozen different boxes. In Chicago, they created a multi-box format that provides space for 10 newspapers. It’s a much better looking entity, and something that can easily be introduced. The city would also do itself a favour if it killed the idea of the mega-bins, which are currently being “tested”. Sure, the city will get some cash from Eucan but the mega-bins are downright ugly and not very functional. For one, they don’t hold much trash, which is not a good thing in a city with a growing litter problem.

Garbage Bag Blues

In our house, recycling day is a little embarassing because we’re so good at it, we have boxes and boxes of paper, bottles and compostable material waiting for the garbageman. Meanwhile, some people on our street have far less because they’re consuming less or not recycling as much as they should. It got me thinking that perhaps the city should think about rewarding good recyclers in some way. Maybe they could give up an extra garbage bag sticker after limits of how many you can throw out every two weeks drops to four bags from five bags. On a related matter, this garbage bag limit is going to be a disaster. Rather than complying with the new rules and recycling more, do not be surprised to see bags of garbage dumped on street corners, ravines, other people’s front yards and beside garbage cans on the street. Toronto’s going to need a lot more than six new inspectors to regulate this activity.

Recycling Enforcement Gets Serious

If you don’t recycle or recycle enough, Toronto’s garbage police will be dogging you soon. To increase participation in the recycle program, the city proposes to have a team of inspectors crack down on non-believers. First, they will give you an education; then, they will give you a warning; and if you don’t get the message, they will give you a $105 fine. I’m all for recycling but this is a bit much. Will inspectors rip open you garbage to see if there are scraps of paper that should be in the blue box, or a piece of chicken that somehow missed the green bin? If the city was really serious about recycling, they should spend more time getting apartment buildings into the system - as opposed to making homeowners do even more work. And instead of asking for another $584K to hire six recycling/garbage inspectors, maybe the city should put some more resources cleaning the streets, which seem to be strewn with more litter every day.

Cleaning Up Garbage

It’s interesting to see the measures being considered by the city to “encourage” people to recycle more. The latest trial balloon is making households use clear plastic bags rather than green bags. This way, I guess, city inspectors can check whether people are recycling and/or recycling properly. You have to believe there are some privacy concerns that need to be addressed but it does illustrate the city’s growing desperation to curb the amount of garbage going to Michigan. Before the city imposes plastic bag usage, it has to be address the hundreds of apartment buildings and condos not recycling at all. In another garbage-related idea, I think the city should look into making retailers responsible for cleaning the sidewalks in front of their stores. It’s frustrating to walk by a Starbucks or McDonald’s and see cups and paper bags strewn about.

My 2006 Toronto Wish List

With 2005 in the books, it’s time to look ahead to 2006. Here’s what I’d like to see in Toronto.
1. A crackdown on gun-related violence. Not just the Liberals’ promise of a ban of guns but a multi-level program to address the roots and symptoms of the problem - everything from well-funded community centres, and low cost or no cost recreational programs to mandatory 10-year sentences for anyone using a gun during a crime.
2. Signs of life on the waterfront, although nothing is better than some of the stupid ideas (high-rise condos, a small sliver of recreational space on the waterfront) that have been proposed. Toronto needs to implement a cohensive development plan rather than the project-by-project work being currently done.
3. Cleaner streets. I’m tired of walking around town and seeing trash everywhere. It’s a classic example of the broken window theory. If you let trash lie around, people think it’s okay to drop more trash. What ever happened to Toronto the Clean? If the city implement a limit of how many garbage bags you’re allowed to toss, do not be surprised to see bags dumped on street corners and in parks and ravines.
4. Smarter developer now that the Ontario Municipal Board appears to be getting defanged. A city can’t be planned properly if developers rule the roost and rely on the OMB to overturn every city planning decision that doesn’t go their way.

Drowning in Garbage

I heard PC leader John Tory on the radio this morning talking about the garbage crisis facing Ontario - particularly Toronto - if the U.S. border is closed to our trash. While not the sexiest of issues, Tory makes a lot of good points when he wonders why Ontario doesn’t appear to have a long-term plan in place to deal with our garbage - be it through recycling, composting and disposal. Even though a lot of progress has been in diverting a lot of garbage, there’s a lot more that could be done. A good example is many apartment buildings in Toronto do no recycling or composting at all. That’s unacceptable given home owners are pretty much compelled to diligently sort through our trash to make sure the green and blue boxes are filled. Tory makes a good point when he says that while garbage isn’t a compelling issue now, it will be if our parks become dumps because the U.S. stops us from shipping garbage to Michigan.