Old City of York a test lab for Toronto's garbage debate

As a long-time resident of the old City of York, Luis Pereira has lived through a unique experiment in garbage pickup.

The onetime borough in northwestern Toronto is the only pocket of the city that has seen both private and public curbside collection in the last decade, making York an accidental test lab for the best way to take out the trash.

As far as Mr. Pereira is concerned, the results are clear. The private company that picked up garbage prior to 2007 provided better service than the unionized city workers who collect it today.

The change to city collection "started creating havoc, really," said Mr. Pereira, who has rented a house near Eglinton Avenue West and Weston Road since 1997. "You never know what they are going to pick up or aren't going to pick up. If it's too heavy they won't pick it up. … It's terrible."

Although Mr. Pereira's experience is echoed in complaints compiled by local councillor Frances Nunziata - a proponent of privatization - York's service looks good when compared to neighbouring Etobicoke, where the garbage is hauled away by a private company.

A Globe and Mail analysis of calls to the 311 customer-service line suggests city hall receives fewer complaints per household about missed pickups in York than in Etobicoke.

"In terms of York, I'd say the service is exceptional," said Mark Ferguson, president of CUPE Local 416, which represents 8,000 outside workers, including garbage collectors.

The conflicting results are a taste of what Torontonians can expect as Mayor Rob Ford moves to contract out garbage pickup to 165,000 homes between Yonge Street and Etobicoke - including in the old City of York.

York has a history as a hot potato in the trash wars.

Before amalgamation, the service was contracted out. But after David Miller was elected megacity mayor in 2003, the municipal government conducted an independent evaluation of what it would cost to bring garbage collection in York and Etobicoke back in-house.

The conclusion - later confirmed by a second audit conducted at CUPE 416's request - was that annual costs would increase by $1.8-million and $360,000, respectively, if Etobicoke and York were brought back into the fold. An additional $15-million in Etobicoke and $4.4-million in York would be needed to buy new trucks and other equipment.

The idea was shelved until 2007 while the Miller administration and Local 416 hammered out a deal to make the rest of the garbage work force more efficient by reducing the number of works yards, rejigging pickup routes and automating pickup with new trucks.

The changes allowed the city to begin collecting York's garbage without hiring any new workers or buying any trucks, for an estimated savings of $4.4-million a year.

Now Ms. Nunziata, York's last mayor and Toronto's current Speaker, is among those leading the charge for a return to privatization. At The Globe's request, her office tallied complaints received by phone and e-mail in the past five years about missed pickups, damaged bins and other trash troubles.

In 2006, the last full year that Turtle Island Recycling, Inc. provided the service in her ward, Ms. Nunziata's office logged just seven complaints. In 2007, when CUPE Local 416 workers took over in August, the figure increased from nine in the first half of the year to 27 in the second half. Since then, the number of complaints has grown to 49 in 2008, 56 in 2009 and 57 in 2010.

"I use to receive calls from constituents about how courteous the [private collectors]were," said Ms. Nunziata, who represents Ward 11 (York South-Weston). "Now I get complaints that they [city workers]are emptying the garbage and just throwing their garbage can in the middle of the street."

Neighbouring councillor Frank Di Giorgio of Ward 12 (York-South Weston) didn't have hard numbers, but couldn't recall a spike in complaints after the switch.

"To be honest, I didn't really notice the difference," said Mr. Di Giorgio, who voted in favour of the move to municipal garbage collection in 2007.

The Globe, meanwhile, found that from Oct. 7 to Nov. 7, 2010, the number of calls to 311 for "missed" residential garbage pickup in the daytime was 107 for York and 510 for Etobicoke. That's 0.16 per cent of households in York compared with 0.41 per cent for privately serviced Etobicoke.

As for savings, it appears nobody has gone back to evaluate whether municipal garbage collection has saved as much money as expected in York.

There is one way to judge the switch. In 2009, the former borough suffered through the 39-day garbage strike along with the rest of the city. In 2002, it was spared.

"It was marvellous," Mr. Pereira said. "Our garbage kept on being picked up."

With a report from Stephanie Chambers