Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

[gabe]

I've pretty much lost faith in Toronto and Ontario's recycling program. Unless someone proves me wrong, I assume that most of what goes into recycling is sent to landfill.

What we should be doing is putting all garbage and recycling into one bin, and then the city or province sorts and separates it. The cost for this service would be paid by any company that produces or imports product packaging or single use food and beverage containers. This is done in several cities in North America. For example, Edmonton accepts mixed household waste, and then recovers organics, recycling, and landfill material using automated separation. Same with Indianapolis, Indiana and San Jose, California.

Also helps that Alberta's deposit return system is the largest in Canada. Ontario is one of the only places in Canada and the modern world that doesn't have a deposit system on all beverage containers..

According to the latest Global Deposit Book, a European-based resource that tracks global bottle return initiatives, Alberta is not only the best province for returns in Canada but also the second best in North America, coming just barely behind Oregon, USA.

Albertans return 85% of their refundable recyclables, with Saskatchewan coming in behind us at 84%, and the average across Canada is 76%.

Global report names Albertans as the best recyclers in Canada

According to the latest Global Deposit Book, a European-based resource that tracks global bottle return initia...

cjwe.ca

 

[gabe]

Not just Toronto having this problem. I follow a lot of Ontario cites on reddit, and noticed most cities are dealing with recycling carts not being picked up. Thanks to Dougie's privatization

‘It’s not a great start’: Toronto residents left waiting for blue bin pickup under province’s new privatized system

Neighbourhoods across Toronto were still waiting for recycling to be picked up this weekend after being told it would be collected on Friday.

www.thestar.com

 

[Towered]

I'm actually late in reporting that.....

Terry Ricketts has actually been installed as the new General Manager Parks and Recreation. She took over in November.

She arrives by way of Niagara Region where she ran Public Works.

She is a P. Eng by trade.

Because everyone needs to recognize her and keep in touch w/her........this is she:

View attachment 706954

So much for me bringing my vision and vibrancy to Parks

 

[Mihairokov]

Not just Toronto having this problem. I follow a lot of Ontario cites on reddit, and noticed most cities are dealing with recycling carts not being picked up. Thanks to Dougie's privatization

As with anything, this City will only be as good as the province allows it to be. The Province of Ontario at this point is more of a hindrance than a help in regards to furthering urbanization.

 

[Richard White]

Not just Toronto having this problem. I follow a lot of Ontario cites on reddit, and noticed most cities are dealing with recycling carts not being picked up. Thanks to Dougie's privatization

‘It’s not a great start’: Toronto residents left waiting for blue bin pickup under province’s new privatized system

Neighbourhoods across Toronto were still waiting for recycling to be picked up this weekend after being told it would be collected on Friday.

www.thestar.com

If I recall, they are not picking up the bagged excess either which makes this situation a whole lot worse.

I manage a Condo with City of Toronto pickup. When our rep discussed the changes with us, his simple answer was "nobody told us anything". They expected it to be an unmitigated disaster given the lack of communication.

 

[PL1]

If I recall, they are not picking up the bagged excess either which makes this situation a whole lot worse.

Seriously?!? I frequently have bagged excess. And due to the narrow passage between houses, I have two smaller bins which won't hold large amounts of cardboard

 

[Richard White]

Seriously?!? I frequently have bagged excess. And due to the narrow passage between houses, I have two smaller bins which won't hold large amounts of cardboard

I remember someone saying that they left the bagged excess behind last week. GFL claimed it was accidental due to one person operation.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Seriously?!? I frequently have bagged excess. And due to the narrow passage between houses, I have two smaller bins which won't hold large amounts of cardboard

I'll report back tomorrow. I have a pile of Christmas packaging in blue bags.

 

[Northern Light]

Proposed Property Tax increase for 2026 - 2.2%

Toronto property taxes are going up. Here’s how much

The city was facing an estimated $1 billion operating shortfall heading into 2026, as well as lower revenues.

www.thestar.com

1.5% for the City Building Fund, 0.7% for the general property tax.

There some choices being made to achieve this that are questionable. I approve of the idea of keeping the increase as low as feasible. But there are some choices on deferred capital projects that may come back to bite.

That's on top of some reserve fund draws that will not be repeatable next year.

 

[Admiral Beez]

If I recall, they are not picking up the bagged excess either which makes this situation a whole lot worse.

Excess blue bags picked up.

 

[DSCToronto]

The City budget proposes finally "doing something' about our antiquated streetlights. SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2026/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-261540.pdf

Staff are recommending a revised investment of $577 million over 10 years for street lighting, replacing the current plan of $252 million over the same period to support enhanced infrastructure, service standards, and full LED conversion.

• The streetlight system in Toronto, which includes 173,100 luminaires, 56,900 poles and 2,477 km of overheard and underground cables, is owned by Toronto Hydro due o a sale that occurred in late 2005. With the sale, the City of Toronto compensates Toronto Hydro for the operation and maintenance of the system via a 30-year service agreement. In 2025, the City is projected to pay Toronto Hydro a total of$56M - $35 million for electricity and $21 million in service fees for the system’s operation and maintenance
• The streetlighting infrastructure is currently operating with 33% of the assets past useful life (APUL), with underground infrastructure at 86% APUL. To maintain operation, over 11,000 “jumpers”, which are intended to be temporary fixes, are in place to bypass failures, creating reliability and safety risks.
• The streetlight system is predominantly still using high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) technology. This is becoming problematic as manufacturers have switched to LED luminaires and are starting to phase out the production of conventional lamps. This increases maintenance costs and reliability issues and leaves the City of Toronto behind other jurisdictions in North America that have transitioned to LED technology.

 

[Full Metal Junkie]

full LED conversion

Finally, we'll be able to see in full-HD glorious color at night, instead of mostly monochromatic single-wavelength picture we get with HPS lamps. Cant wait for the sepia filter to be removed from Toronto's night life!

image source

 

[Northern Light]

The City budget proposes finally "doing something' about our antiquated streetlights. SEE: https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2026/bu/bgrd/backgroundfile-261540.pdf

Staff are recommending a revised investment of $577 million over 10 years for street lighting, replacing the current plan of $252 million over the same period to support enhanced infrastructure, service standards, and full LED conversion.

• The streetlight system in Toronto, which includes 173,100 luminaires, 56,900 poles and 2,477 km of overheard and underground cables, is owned by Toronto Hydro due o a sale that occurred in late 2005. With the sale, the City of Toronto compensates Toronto Hydro for the operation and maintenance of the system via a 30-year service agreement. In 2025, the City is projected to pay Toronto Hydro a total of$56M - $35 million for electricity and $21 million in service fees for the system’s operation and maintenance
• The streetlighting infrastructure is currently operating with 33% of the assets past useful life (APUL), with underground infrastructure at 86% APUL. To maintain operation, over 11,000 “jumpers”, which are intended to be temporary fixes, are in place to bypass failures, creating reliability and safety risks.
• The streetlight system is predominantly still using high-pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) technology. This is becoming problematic as manufacturers have switched to LED luminaires and are starting to phase out the production of conventional lamps. This increases maintenance costs and reliability issues and leaves the City of Toronto behind other jurisdictions in North America that have transitioned to LED technology.

I support the project, with the asterisk that I would like to see the acorn-style fixtures retained in the old City.

Its not clear to me if that's the plan here or not.