Private garbage collection, CafeTO up for discussion at city council

Toronto city council is in the midst of a virtual session Tuesday and among the items up for discussion are private garbage pickup and making CafeTO permanent.

Private garbage collection

A report going before council shows the cost of private waste collection is getting more expensive.

Right now, waste collection west of Yonge Street is contracted out, and costs about $33 million – or about $143 per household.

East of Yonge, where trash is still picked up by the city, the total cost is the same, but it comes at just under $140 per household.

City council will debate a report this week that proposes returning Etobicoke waste collection contract to Vaughan-based GFL environmental in 2023, after 8 years with Miller Waste.

Miller’s cost would have seen the city’s per-household collection cost jump above its current contract.

As for keeping a mix of public-private trash collection in the city — a spokesperson for Mayor John Tory tells the Toronto Star he supports this current model, adding millions of dollars have been saved because of this competition and says the city is driving efficiencies.

CafeTO

CafeTO, the successful pandemic relief program for restaurants and bars, could be here to stay.

A report recommending CafeTO be made permanent and to waive permit fees again for next year will go before council after being approved by Mayor John Tory’s executive committee.

This plan will help continue to support one of the industries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This year, more than 1,200 of the city’s restaurants took advantage of the program with expanded outdoor dining on streets and sidewalks, including more than 900 locations with curb lane closures.

City staff said the new, permanent process would be fast and streamlined and, if approved, restaurant operators will only need to apply once for year-round expanded sidewalk cafes.

Currently, existing temporary CafeTO sidewalk cafes can remain in place and available through the winter until April 14, 2022.

Other items on the agenda

• Dropping the speed limit from 50 km/hr to 40 km/hr along a stretch of O’Connor Avenue in East York — and Parkside Drive near High Park
• The city’s homelessness solutions service plan
• Updates on a cybersecurity review for Toronto Fire and Toronto Water systems
• The first master plan to develop properties near Parliament and Front Street — the site where Upper Canada’s first parliament stood