Giant garbage bins trashed in Riverdale
08/10/06
www.insideTORONTO.com
DAVID NICKLE
The giant Eucan garbage bins that first appeared on Riverdale streets a year ago will be around for just a short while longer - but city officials say they'll be gone by the end of next week, following a request from local Ward 30 Councillor Paula Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) to get them out of the ward.
Their departure comes a week late so far as Fletcher is concerned - she'd been assured at a July 5 works committee meeting that the bins would be gone within a month, and this week she was visibly annoyed that the bins were still there.
But according to Robert Orpin, Toronto's director of collections for the south and west district, there was some confusion as to whether there needed to be a motion by council to remove the bins, which were put in place as a part of a three-month pilot project last year.
"Our understanding was, it was...30 days from the end of when council approved this thing," said Orpin. "We're working to get them out - we can remove them but we don't want to remove them until we have a replacement bin to come in behind them."
Later Wednesday, Orpin said he'd received a commitment from Eucan to remove the bins next week.
The agreement with Eucan was originally that the cans, with large advertisements attached to them, would be put in place for a three-month trial period and then removed on a local councillor's request.
Fletcher said that in Riverdale the reception has been uniformly poor.
"I've received a lot of e-mails from people very, very happy that the bins were going to be removed, and the Danforth Business Improvement Area has asked that they be taken out for the Taste of the Danforth," said Fletcher.
Dave Cunningham, chair of the Danforth BIA, said the bin on the south side of the Danforth at Playter Street has been nothing but trouble for pedestrians and businesses alike.
"We hate them," he said.
"There are numerous reasons. One is the placement across the sidewalk blocks too much sidewalk for foot traffic; it also leaves half of the bin's capacity out at the curbside, which doesn't make sense. The bins are always overflowing so I'm assuming they have very limited garbage capacity… It's nice that it has an ashtray but one redeeming quality doesn't make up for the shortfalls."
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"We're working to get them out - we can remove them but we don't want to remove them until we have a replacement bin to come in behind them."
If those are the replacements don't even bother.