'I literally inherited a mess,' Chow says as city unveils new sidewalk litter bins
Mayor Olivia Chow says residents can expect to see cleaner sidewalks across Toronto as the city works to install new and improved sidewalk litter bins.
Throughout the year, the city is planning to replace hundreds of older garbage receptacles along city streets with redesigned bins that city staff say are more functional.
- Download our app to get local alerts on your device
- Get the latest local updates right to your inbox
“I literally inherited a mess,” Chow told reporters during a news conference on Thursday. “We are cleaning it up.”
She said it irks her to watch the front covers of the old litter bins “flapping” in the wind. She noted that the older bins do not even have openings wide enough to accommodate larger coffee cups.
“I came into the job in July and I went to a lot of (festivals)… whether it is Taste of Little Italy or Ukraine, and I see the need for us to have cleaner streets,” she said.
“I have been working hard at it.”
She noted that designing and testing the new bins “took a bit of time.”
Four of the new bins were placed in downtown locations for testing in December and January as part of a pilot project.
Chow said the pilot was a success and four additional bins will be installed this week.
More than 1,000 new bins are expected to be installed in high-density areas by the end of the year, the city said in a news release issued Thursday.
According to the city, the new sidewalk bins include a wider opening that “reduces the likelihood of disposed items getting stuck.” They also feature a “stronger, self-closing hinge.”
The bins will also have added durability with the reinforcement of the frame and doors, the city noted.
Just two garbage options are included on each bin, a change the city says will reduce the “likelihood of overflows and contamination of recyclable materials.”
In addition to the new bins, the city says it is planning to conduct a “bin sensor pilot program” this year on about 250 of the street litter bins.
The sensors are designed to “detect the fullness” of the bins and communicate when the bins are at or near capacity.
Additional staff is also being hired to inspect street litter bins, gather data, and report overflowing and maintenance issues “for a period of six months” to allow the city to gather trends and recommendations for “optimal collection frequency.”
Presently, litter operations run 20 hours a day, seven days a week in Toronto, with more than 50,000 collections of litter bins per week, the city said.
According to city staff, 99.9 per cent of collections are done “proactively” and collection is done at night for “safety and efficiency.”
While the city is responsible for collecting garbage, repairing broken or damaged litter bins is the responsibility of Bell Media-owned Astral Out-of-Home, which has been contracted to maintain them.
The service provider, the city says, is “committed to completing weekly inspections” of the approximately 11,000 sidewalk bins and twice-weekly inspections in high-density areas.
“They install, maintain, and fix the bins so we are going to hold them to all of that,” Chow told reporters Thursday. “I got a copy of the contract because I want to take a closer look at how we can work better with them.”
When asked why it took so long to introduce more effective sidewalk litter bins in Toronto, Brad Chebott, a senior manager for Astral Out-of-Home, said they are always looking to improve the program.
“It has been a continuous improvement since 2007 when we took over,” he said.
He would not say whether Astral hopes to extend its contract with the city when the agreement ends in 2027.
“Our objective is to meet our obligations within the current agreement,” he added.
Astral and CP24 are divisions of Bell Media.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trump confronts repeated boos during raucous Libertarian convention speech
Donald Trump was booed repeatedly while addressing Saturday night’s Libertarian Party National Convention.
This type of screen time has the worst effect on kids: experts
According to some experts, there is one type of screen time that is continuously excessive, and it's having a severe effect on our children.
Family of toddler found dead at small-town Ont. daycare no closer to answers after year of investigation
A year has passed since two-year-old Vienna Irwin was found on the property of a home-based daycare in small-town Ontario, but her family says they are no closer to answers of what happened that day.
Grayson Murray, two-time PGA Tour winner, dead at 30
Two-time PGA Tour winner Grayson Murray died Saturday morning at age 30, one day after he withdrew from the Charles Schwab Cup Challenge at Colonial.
Humboldt Broncos crash victims and families react to decision to deport truck driver
The family of one of the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash in 2018 says they are 'thankful' for a decision by a Calgary immigration board to deport the driver of the truck involved.
Fatal plane crash reported near Squamish, B.C.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has confirmed it is working with local Mounties and the BC Coroners Service after a plane crash near Squamish, B.C. Friday night.
'God forgives but we don’t': Loud outburst from stabbing victim’s family during sentencing hearing
An emotional outburst in a London, Ont. courtroom Friday disrupted the sentencing hearing of a woman who pleaded guilty for her part in the death of 29-year-old Mohammed Abdallah.
Three dead after vehicle plunged down a 100-foot embankment in Shediac, N.B.
Three people have died after a vehicle veered off the road in Shediac N.B., Friday morning.
Appeal denied for Edmonton soldier accused of trying to kill her 3 children
An Edmonton woman found guilty of trying to kill her three children has been denied an appeal.