# Fuck Toronto's Garbage Collection Services **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 11, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406 "2006-05-11T18:46:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/21 "2006-05-13T07:15:03Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I live in Toronto. Can’t say as I’ve ever really noticed any deficiencies with the garbage removal system, so far - garbage strikes aside. 😉 > > The city seems very livable to me. Maybe I’m missing stuff I ought to be outraged about. I agree… No problems here either… and after having lived with BAD transit in San Francisco, the TTC is heaven… ---
**Author:** ![elfbabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b782af/32.png) [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/22 "2006-05-13T11:03:59Z")
Wow, I’m glad I live in Ottawa. We have recycling every week, paper/cardboard alternating with glass/plastic/metal, and up to 4 bags of garbage. (Not that people usually put out more than 2 on our street - it’s full of NDP-voting bicycle commuters, and producing lots of trash would be Shameful.) Plus yard waste as seasonally appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/23 "2006-05-14T04:45:59Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Is there any other city in North America with such shitty garbage collection service? Here’s what I get for my tax dollars (and, jeez, that’s a lot of dollars): > > - glass and paper recycling pickup _every two weeks_ > > - garbage pick up _every two weeks_ (6 bag maximum) (alternates with recycling) > > - “organic” garbage pickup once a week BUT must be in the [special green bin[sup]TM[/sup]](http://static.flickr.com/1/700596_3887ec89ca_o.jpg) > \ AHAAHAHAHAHAHAA!!! Oh, that’s rich - complaining because your recyclables and organic waste isn’t being picked up in a timely fashion. You know what they pick up in Calgary? NOTHING THAT ISN’T GARBAGE. No recyclables, no organics, no damned thing but plain old garbage bags. And not too many of those, thank yew veddy much. We are expected to clean, sort and store all of our recycling ourselves and drive it our own damned selves to the local Safeway parking lot to cram it into the sorted bins (but not on the weekend, cause that would make them full). We are expected to compost our own organics in our own backyards (okay, that one makes a little more sense). The city is full of big talk about being green and crap like that, but they aren’t even close to prepared to put their money where their mouths are. ---
**Author:** ![Uzi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/91b2a8/32.png) [@Uzi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uzi)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/24 "2006-05-14T13:37:27Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > NOTHING THAT ISN’T GARBAGE. No recyclables, no organics, no damned thing but plain old garbage bags. And not too many of those, thank yew veddy much. > > We are expected to clean, sort and store all of our recycling ourselves and drive it our own damned selves to the local Safeway parking lot to cram it into the sorted bins (but not on the weekend, cause that would make them full). We actually PAY recyclers to pick up our recyclables. We have to clean, sort, and put it out on the sidewalk in blue bins (hoping that it all doesn’t blow away). Well, at least my wife does. I’m not convinced that the amount of water used to clean all this ‘garbage’ justifies saving the land fill space, so I cooperate only when convenient (or in view of the wife). We are paying them to pick shit up, so why can’t they sort the crap themselves? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/25 "2006-05-14T17:13:25Z")
Since discovering that every other city in the world (apparently) has recycling picked up curbside, I’ve stopped recycling food cans and glass, because they are just one big fat pain in the ass to deal with (wash them out, soak off the labels, dry them out, cut off the bottoms, flatten them out, store in my house for X number of weeks, then haul their heavy weight to the recycler. Bleah.) Once the world governments get serious about making industries less conspicuous consumers, I’ll start worrying about my few cans and jars again. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/26 "2006-05-14T18:34:39Z")
That was one thing I really liked about living in Edmonton (there were a few good things, but I’m really a Calgarian at heart…). They picked up your uncleaned, unsorted recyclables every week, provided they were in those blue sorta transparent bags, and they were sorted in a plant by work-for-welfare participants. Kingston, Ontario: you get to put out three bags. Total. If you wanted to put out more, you had to purchase a tag per bag from city hall, and they weren’t cheap. The composting was picked up once per week. The recyclables, once a week, and they picked up everything at once: glass, paper, tins, etc. They were sorted onto the truck into separate compartments. Baltimore: Recyclables? There are alternating weeks. I’ve lived here for three years and still can’t seem to get the damned county to tell me what is picked up and when. Can’t compost, it’ll bring rats; can’t store recyclables, it’ll provide a haven for cockroaches. We’re moving in three weeks. I WILL HAVE RECYCLING AND COMPOSTING ROOM. I’m ashamed of how much garbage we produce in a week. Each time I look at the bins on Sunday evening (trash pickup is Monday morning), I think back to when I lived in Kingston and put out perhaps one 3/4 full garbage back a week. ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/27 "2006-05-14T21:00:22Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Kingston, Ontario: you get to put out three bags. Total. Per person? Or for the whole house, no matter how many people live in it? There are only 3 people in our house, and we generate about 5 big black trash bags of garbage every week, minimum. (and that’s with recyclables removed.) The amount of garbage made is not really reducable past a certain point, because you can’t just tell the gorcery store “oh, i’ll leave the packaging here and just carry the Wheaties home cradled in my t-shirt.” How can they be so unreasonable in how much garbage they let you put out? Especially when the taxes in Canada are so high, that’s really ridiculous that they would try to rip you off like that. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/28 "2006-05-15T04:26:49Z")
> [@meenie7](#): > > \How can they be so unreasonable in how much garbage they let you put out? Especially when the taxes in Canada are so high, that’s really ridiculous that they would try to rip you off like that. I don’t think the aldermen of cities have figured out yet that people can find things out about other cities on the internet. I think they are still operating on the “mushroom principle.” (We have two people in our house, and put out about one bag a week, without trying particularly hard to be garbage-conscious.) ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/29 "2006-05-15T04:50:27Z")
Garbage collection is one reason I really like my apartment building (just moved in a couple months ago). There is a garbage chute, so I just use small bags and drop it down the chute when it’s full and/or starting to get smelly. I probably use three small bags per week (equivalent to one large black bag), as I live alone and don’t have pets so I don’t generate much trash. There’s a garbage room on the main floor for anything you can’t fit down the chute, and there’s also a large dumpster for recycleables. I live in Edmonton, so we don’t need to sort/clean the recycling, just dump it in the bin. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/30 "2006-05-15T17:00:23Z")
Did your neighbourhood go green bin early? I understand that there are two different models of green bins and that the later ones have better raccoon locks on them. You might ask at your local city building if you can get a different/better one. ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/31 "2006-05-15T18:55:09Z")
You know, there is something we can do other than moan about our city’s governance. These jackoff city councillors get lifetime terms, basically, because we taxpaying drones either don’t vote municipally (most of us), or vote overwhelmingly for the person on the ballot whose name we recognise (ie the one who’s already been our city councillor). There IS a municipal election coming up in November, and now’s a good time to declare your candidacy. If any Doper wants to run I’m happy to help plan your campaign, I’m helping a couple of other candidates too. At the very least, those of us pissed off with the City of Toronto should make sure we carefully investigate who to vote for. The reason those bums keep doing what they’re doing is that they keep getting re-elected. (Yes, Rob Ford, I’m looking at YOU!) Don’t let it happen. Make them earn their seats. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/32 "2006-05-15T20:08:56Z")
> [@meenie7](#): > > Per person? Or for the whole house, no matter how many people live in it? > > There are only 3 people in our house, and we generate about 5 big black trash bags of garbage every week, minimum. (and that’s with recyclables removed.) The amount of garbage made is not really reducable past a certain point, because you can’t just tell the gorcery store “oh, i’ll leave the packaging here and just carry the Wheaties home cradled in my t-shirt.” > How can they be so unreasonable in how much garbage they let you put out? Especially when the taxes in Canada are so high, that’s really ridiculous that they would try to rip you off like that. Three bags per household per week. And we never used that much, in a household with five people. It’s a simple matter to put paper and glass and other recyclables in the bins, and toss the compostables in that bin. I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all. ---
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406/33 "2006-05-15T20:35:56Z")
> [@GingerOfTheNorth](#): > > Three bags per household per week. And we never used that much, in a household with five people. It’s a simple matter to put paper and glass and other recyclables in the bins, and toss the compostables in that bin. I don’t think that’s unreasonable at all. Yeah, seriously **meenie7** , 5 bags of garbage a week for 3 people? Three people in our household and we usually only generate one black bag a week. I think either you are not recycling correctly or your city has seriously inadequate facilities for recyling. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fuck-torontos-garbage-collection-services/356406.md?page=1)