City staff trash automated yard waste pickup plan, propose kraft paper bags only
Toronto city staff are canning the idea of automating household yard waste pickup—and are instead pushing for a plan that allows leaves and garden clippings to be collected in kraft paper bags only.
In a report set to be reviewed by city councillors, solid waste staff say a pilot project that examined the feasibility of using city-issued “brown bins” for yard waste did not yield any operational efficiencies, and is not worth adopting.
The standardized bins were distributed to approximate a thousand households in late 2018 to assess whether the collection could be fully automated, to reduce worker injury while also allowing the city to staff the trucks with one operator instead of two.
But the problem proved to be that in peak yard-waste periods, homeowners needed additional containers for leaves and clippings—requiring non-standardized bins or bags for the overflow.
“We needed a special truck, obviously then, to collect the automated bins for the yard waste, but we also needed a truck that wold be able to accommodate workers to be able to lift those kraft paper bags into the hopper,” Annette Synowiec of Solid Waste Management Services told CTV News Toronto.
“And really that was not an ergonomic solution either.”
According to a 2018 consultant’s report, Solid Waste Management incurred approximately $626,00 in costs related to musculoskeletal injury claims between 2013 and 2017, most commonly attributed to manual handling of containers.
To reduce worker injury, staff are now recommending that non-standardized bins for yard waste be disallowed beginning in 2023—giving homeowners the option to use kraft paper bags only. Currently homeowners are permitted to use their own rigid open containers for yard waste.
“[Those containers] sometimes requires an extra shake or dump of those contents, so at the beginning of the spring or late fall we can get cold snaps where the material can become stuck or frozen, and that’s also difficult ergonomically to be able to release that material,” said Synowiec.
But infrastructure and environment committee member Councillor James Pasternak questioned the advice, saying it ran counter to years of asking the public to use reusable containers to reduce waste.
“Now we’re doing a pivot, where we don’t want them to keep using the same item week after week that they’re supplying at their own expense,” Pasternak said. “We’re asking them to stop doing that and go out and buy kraft paper bags, so that’s a bit of a paradigm shift that we’re going to have to work on.”
The city’s infrastructure and environment committee will review staff’s recommendation July 5.
Any changes to the yard waste collection protocols would still need to be approved by full council.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
Residents of northern Alberta First Nation told to shelter in place
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.
Metro Vancouver mayors call for serial killer Robert Pickton to be denied parole
A dozen mayors from around Metro Vancouver say federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Arif Virani should deny parole for notorious B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton, and reassess the parole and sentencing system for 'prolific offenders and mass murderers.'