Jammed trash bins send yuck factor sky-high for neighbours
Residents responsible for mess piled it up without putting out for collection
Putting out garbage and recycling for collection is not hard to do, but for some people it’s apparently a tall order.
The city makes getting rid of refuse simple: Garbage goes in the grey bin, recycling in the blue bin and compostable stuff in the green bin. Wheel the bins out to the curb on collection day and it disappears.
But what if trash is jammed into bins until it’s spilling out and collecting in piles around them, leaving easy pickings for raccoons and scavengers?
And what if the mess is on a narrow strip of property near the sidewalk and next to a neighbour’s driveway, where the yuck factor for others is skyhigh?
That’s the situation on a suburban street I will not name, to avoid causing embarrassment, even though the people responsible don’t seem particularly concerned about it.
Ewa Pawchuki, who walks the family dog in the area, outlined the deplorable situation in the email and two subsequent phone calls, saying it had steadily gotten worse.
Pawchuki’s email said that when the “wind comes, it’s flying everywhere,” adding, “311 doesn’t touch it, citing COVID. Can you?
“PS: Garbage day is Wednesday. Doubtful that the crew will pick it up as is. Again.”
I first went there on Jan. 25; the situation was as bad as Pawchuki said.
I went back on Feb. 1 and a third drive-by on Feb. 11 (I know, I should get a life); the only thing that changed was that the piles of garbage around the bins had grown.
Two collection days had been missed since I started checking on it, and the mess was already spilling onto the ground when I first got there on Jan. 25.
STATUS: I sent the city a note last week and got a reply that said a bylaw enforcement officer would be sent right away to “inspect the location.”
I went back Wednesday to see if anything changed. Bingo. Several empty bins were at the foot of the driveway and all signs of the mess on the strip between the two driveways was gone, indicating that the officer’s visit hit the mark.
The city’s note to me also laid out the many obligations and responsibilities that apply to residential trash collection. Here’s a good one, from the Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 844-17: “Every owner shall make his or her best efforts to set out garbage, recyclable materials, organic materials and yard waste on each day that the city provides garbage collection services, recycling collection services, organics collection services and yard waste collection services, as the case may be, and in no case shall an owner fail to set out an item eligible for collection under this chapter for more than one collection period.”