Diversion rates historically low due to collection challenges

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The sight of mounds of garbage bags stacked at the edges of townhouse complexes will soon be a thing of the past, once Toronto's solid waste department finishes implementing the new pay-as-you-throw garbage bin system by the end of this year.

At least, that's what Toronto's Director of Solid Waste Management Rob Orpin is hoping, as his team of waste management specialists fans out across the city's 30,000 townhouses that don't currently receive curb-side collection.

"We're working with both condominium owners and property management companies," said Orpin, whose team has just wrapped up the heavy-lifting job of helping homeowners in tightly-packed downtown neighbourhoods deal with the storage issues of large garbage bins and larger recycling bins.

The problems faced by townhouse complexes are not dissimilar: a frequent lack of storage space and simple issues of accessibility.

But there's an additional issue for townhouses: the new introduction of the green bin organic recycling system.

"Some townhouses don't have storage for the bin system ... so we're looking at the various options that are available," said Orpin. "We had one unit in Etobicoke that decided to go for a dual bin that would be for garbage one week and recycling the next. There will be areas that can't get the bins in, and for those we'll offer a bag system."

Single family homeowners have been separating organics from their regular waste for years. For townhomes, that will only start next year. And because most townhomes haven't had any curbside recycling collection, diversion rates overall are low.

Starting July 1, the city started charging for the collection of non-recycled waste from townhouses, currently using the commercial yellow-bag program charging $3.10 a bag of garbage. To offset that, residents receive a rebate on their water bill, of $157 a year.

Next year, townhouse residents will be using the bin system that's being distributed to single family homes. Then, they'll receive the residential credit of $209, to offset the graduated annual cost of the garbage bins.

In the meantime, said Orpin, it's all logistics.

Historically, many of the former municipalities shied away from collecting garbage on the narrower and often unassumed roads of townhouse developments - which is why many of those developments simply leave all their garbage at the main road.

However, Toronto Council voted last year to eliminate the garbage piles. So the city is rethinking the historic policies that keep garbage collection on wide, public streets. Toronto will be purchasing a dozen smaller-than-standard garbage trucks to deal with the tightest roadways.

In the toughest cases, the city may have to collect from the entrances to townhouse complexes as before - but this time using bins that homeowners will have to wheel out.

Public Works and Infrastructure Committee Chair Glenn De Baeremaeker said it's worth the trouble.

"The city will look more clean and beautiful," said De Baeremaeker. "Instead of seeing big piles of garbage, what you'll see is a neat row of blue bins and garbage bins put out."

The plan is expected to be in place by early 2009; just months after Toronto's pay-as-you-throw system comes in to full effect for single family homes.