We save money by automating, or so the City of Toronto politicians say. For the last couple of years there has been changes to our weekly garbage pickup, specifically trucks that have large claws that pick up our garbage cans and dump our garbage into the truck, all without the operator leaving his seat. There is also only one guy on the truck, saving labour costs. Of course there are other details to note.
Garbage pickup in Toronto is not simple. As citizens we must separate our recyclable, plastic and organic/other garbage. This is the regular yearly schedule. In the summer and fall there is also a separate yard waste pickup. There is a phone number to call for large appliance and bed pickup. As newcomers will tell you, this is complex and takes time to understand. If you do not follow the rules your garbage does not get picked up. Then neighbours might get upset, call the city and you will get a visit from a city bylaw officer. It is best for all to follow the rules.
Organic/other garbage goes into a small green bin. These are picked up by a two man truck, one who rides on the back, opens your green garbage bin and empties it into the truck. Extra garbage bags that cannot fit into the bin may or may not be picked up. These guys will often open up your garbage to see if indeed you are throwing out organic/other garbage that is not plastic nor recyclable. If they discover you are sorting your garbage incorrectly they will throw your garbage back on to your front lawn, leaving you to clean up the mess. They might give you a sticker to tell you why they did not pick up. Organic/other garbage is limited in size to about 3-4 small plastic bags per house.
Organic or Green bin garbage is picked up by hand. The bins are small. Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai
Recycling (blue bin) and plastic (grey bin) garbage pickup is fully automated. You need to sort to the right bin, then roll the bin to the curb. A single guy truck will come by, pick up your garbage bin with a large claw, hoist it up and over top of the truck and dump the contents into the truck, all, hopefully, without spilling it all over the street. They do no checking of contents. I like to watch them pick up because it is reminiscent of some monster robot.
Recycling (blue bin) and Plastic (grey bin) is picked up by an automated truck that has two large claws. Here the claws are about to pick up a neighbour’s blue bin. Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai.
Recycling (blue bin) and Plastic (grey bin) is picked up by an automated truck that has two large claws. Here the claws are picking up my blue bin, ready to hoist it up and dump garbage into the truck. Toronto, Canada. Photo by Don Tai.
You can choose the size of both your recycling and plastic garbage bins. There are four sizes. We did not choose the largest because we really do not have that much to recycle, and our plastic garbage we keep to as little as possible. Most weeks our plastic garbage is not even half full, and sometimes we double up with a good neighbour so the truck only picks up at one house and not both.
It is an interesting system, this monster robot. Last week a guy was picking up my recycling bin, which is a medium sized bin, and his truck spilled half of its contents onto the street. He had to get out of his truck and clean everything up. As I was helping him clean up my garbage, I asked him what went wrong. He said that the claws were adjusted to the larger bins, so when picking up the medium sized bins the bins sometimes slip, throwing garbage all over the street. If the claws were adjusted to the medium sized bins they would crush and destroy the large bins. The interim solution is to position the medium sized bins slightly slanted, kitty corner to the street, so that one corner of the bin faces the street. In this way the claws grab more securely and it does not barf garbage in front of my house.
Are not these garbage guys smart?
