City

What the Garbage Cans are Saying about the City Union Strike

Posted by Guest Contributor / July 15, 2009

54 Comments

toronto garbage strike photos Something about the streets filling up with trash makes you examine your surroundings a little differently. Like the ads on the sides of our overflowing garbage cans... they take on unanticipated meanings when stuffed and draped with refuse, don't they? Like this one above...

OH THE IRONY - the ferry workers are on strike too!

Do you have a rebate on maggots?

Here, son, eat this.

I'm not sure we're going to hit this year's target, Jim.

We're drowning in irony.

This market requires a mediator!

Oh, they're recyclable! Great now let's see... which one of these holes do I... ?

Not sure about those targets either, Jim.

Give graffiti the brush off! It's tarnishing our otherwise clean, beautiful city!

This guy is giving graffiti the brush off...

This one is trying to say something..."Hughlughahlahgl"

We're going to need some more garbage cans over here, Jim. This one's full.

Someone thought that by tucking this garbage behind The Sun and Canada Post, no one would notice... and they were mostly right!

Necessity is the mother of all invention? Why don't we all tie our garbage together with ribbons and fling them into street signs, power lines, etc?

Hi, please come in! We've been expecting you! Sorry, the place is a bit of a mess - gosh, I swear I'm not usually this messy! It's just, well, I'm having a bit of a rough time at the moment, ha ha ha, and I haven't had the chance to vacuum lately! Here let me move that so you can sit down...

See, the problem is not the strike, the problem is that our garbage cans should have been built about 9 feet longer and 3 feet deeper to accommodate reasonable levels of trash!

This one was finally told to chew with its mouth shut.

You want my fingers to do WHAT? Hell no, that's what the internet is for! Now get rid of these books, all of them, out of my sight! Put them in the street with all the other trash!

Ahh, what a beautiful walk to work. who wouldn't want to live and work in Toronto?

Writing and Photos by Brendan Dellandrea

Discussion

54 Comments

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t_dotgirl / July 15, 2009 at 04:28 pm

I agree. There is garbage that is piling up. However, our streets (the last shot) look like that on a normal non-strike day. Maybe we should start looking at charging fines to people who litter. This needs to be a wake-up call for people who make a habit to litter. But I do hope the strike resolves soon.

Rajio / July 15, 2009 at 04:35 pm

The strike is no excuse to litter. Bring on the fines.

Dawn / July 15, 2009 at 04:52 pm

This is a great post. It's disgusting to see these pictures but I love the captions.

Rob / July 15, 2009 at 04:53 pm

Interesting POV. There is a mountain of garbage at Dundas and Spadina in front of those Asian grocery stores (and many other places, I'm sure). The other day I was on the streetcar and saw a worker neatly stacking boxes on the sidewalk beside the garbage can. Despite his best efforts to keep things in relative order, I suppose this is littering!

Carrie / July 15, 2009 at 04:55 pm

Wow, what a mess! I've been living in my little Yonge/Eg & Rosedale bubble for the past few weeks and both neighbourhoods are surprisingly clean, so I figured other areas were being kept just as clean, as well. Guess I've gotta go downtown a little more. That last pic makes me very sad. If stores just took 5 minutes each day to clean up the sidewalk in front of their space, it would make such a huge difference.

Samantha replying to a comment from Carrie / July 15, 2009 at 05:05 pm

Haha, this made me laugh, because on a typical morning on Queen, King and Spadina, LOADS of people clean up the sidewalk. With hoses.

and it never fails to make me angry to see precious water being used to water concrete! a broom does the same thing!

GREAT post, GREAT captions. Thanks

Ford / July 15, 2009 at 05:09 pm

The City of Toronto is doing a fantastic job covering for the 24,000 employees on strike. They should not be held hostage by greedy unions - hold out and bleed the unions dry! This strike should also serve the citizens of Toronto as a wake up call to reduce their garbage output.

Carrie replying to a comment from Samantha / July 15, 2009 at 05:17 pm

Clearly this clean up doesn't happen at Spadina & College! ;) Good to hear that many businesses are cleaning up, though.

Thomas / July 15, 2009 at 05:22 pm

The best thing being:

the oh-so-green-and-responsible eco-friendly annex hypocrats filling their pit first!

Kwil / July 15, 2009 at 05:25 pm

Ahahaha. Great post.
I can only imagine what tourists must be thinking of our city!

Kel / July 15, 2009 at 05:39 pm

I love how Torontonians like t_dotgirl above relish in complaining about how "dirty" this city is on an ordinary basis. Visit a comparable sized city anywhere else and then try to complain. Just sayin'.

stuart replying to a comment from Thomas / July 15, 2009 at 05:51 pm

What makes you think that Christie Pits was filled by people that live in the annex?

I know is our street we paid for it to be taken away. And anyone with kids that play there wouldnt have dumped. And from what I gather about the residents on the front line, it was all people from out of the area dumping their sh*t there.

Jarek / July 15, 2009 at 05:56 pm

Could we get addresses these pictures were taken?

someguy / July 15, 2009 at 05:57 pm

i find it amusing that people complain about garbage on the streets, but don't complain about the people who put it there... throw your shit out @ work, or @ home, somewhere you "know" it can be stored.
i personally support the city, much like the poster FORD
overpaid people are OVER FUCKING PAID
not education required, but you can be a city work and make over 40gz as a garbage man...... sad

James / July 15, 2009 at 05:59 pm

Its really nice and tidy out here in Scarborough. No garbage piles anywhere. Even the parks are clean. I dare say it is cleaner than normal.

Now we'll see who gets picked on for living in the ghetto, huh? :-P

dale / July 15, 2009 at 06:04 pm

hey James it might be cleaner out in Scarborough as people dont LIVE there -they simply exist

laffer / July 15, 2009 at 06:20 pm

There actually is a lot of cleanup going on - if you think Spadina is not getting cleaned at all, you're mistaken. If the garbage was not removed, the street wouldn't be passable. Seems to me that most of the garbage on the streets is created by pedestrians who pack overstuffed garbage bins plus some unscrupulous stores, I guess. But most businesses have alternative garbage service and don't rely on the city. It's still dirty out there and when the wind picks up strange things come flying at ya... but it could have been worse.

someOTHERguy replying to a comment from someguy / July 15, 2009 at 06:24 pm

someguy said:

"overpaid people are OVER FUCKING PAID"

Thank you for the brilliant insight.

"not education required,"

Do you work for the city?

Ray / July 15, 2009 at 06:50 pm

I don't know about other places but here in CA, some people are crazy for recyclable bottles and cans, turning them in to recycle sites for cash

Oileanach / July 15, 2009 at 07:07 pm

Sure it's not great, but I remain impressed at how clean things are this far into the strike.

Observation: is it my imagination that the predominant garbage is take-out containers? Sure these are street garbage cans so that should be expected, but isn't there a better way to eat on the go? Maybe not...

Carlos / July 15, 2009 at 07:35 pm

i like turtles

Heather replying to a comment from someguy / July 15, 2009 at 07:43 pm

I think it's worth pointing out that garbage collectors work hard for their money. My spouse once worked as a garbage collector for a year to pay for school, and before he did, I had no idea what it was like.

He worked alone both driving the truck and picking up the trash. The truck was weighed when he left the dump in the morning and again when he returned at the end of the day. On average he picked up 8 metric tonnes--that's 17,000 pounds--of garbage daily.

He did it in sweltering summer heat, in rain and in snow and ice. People yelled at him for not taking their hazardous materials, their armchairs and their defunct freezers (as though he could toss a freezer in the truck single-handedly anyway).

It's easy to think the job's a cinch when you see your garbage collector pick up 3 houses' worth of garbage, but it's harder to think so when you imagine the other 16,950 pounds still left to go. Just sayin'. (Addendum: my spouse just suggested I mention the maggots, too--yikes.)

James / July 15, 2009 at 08:39 pm

In all seriousness, gotta second everything @Oileanach said. The city is looking pretty good all things considered. I'm not sure I miss our city government services that much.

Richard S / July 15, 2009 at 09:32 pm

I think the real victim in this strike is Jim ;)

Seriously though, Sid Ryan needs to be deported very, very quickly. Maybe then our city will start to get better.

Hillary / July 15, 2009 at 09:33 pm

These pictures show us that we need to reconsider how much waste we produce, and consider the packaging that products come in before purchasing.
The garbage problem is a result of our society's disposable life-style.

brap replying to a comment from Jarek / July 15, 2009 at 09:45 pm

These pictures were taken on Spadina, from College to Dundas, and maybe just a little further south. I know this because I live right at Nassau and Spadina and have to see this crap everyday.

aramartis / July 15, 2009 at 10:34 pm

These garbage can are designed for a city with 500.000 people not 6 million...Toronto is becoming a joke....better go back to Brazil because overthere things are improving and here walking back...sad.

asd / July 15, 2009 at 10:37 pm

This city was so clean a nice eight years ago. Miller really left Toronto is a state of nasty dirt look. If there is no maintenace things get worst and the Mayor is the principal cause of all of it.

Dana S. / July 16, 2009 at 12:29 am

I am very much disgusted not at just the garbage I see everyday in front of my work at starbucks but I'm also disgusted by these workers. Do they not realize that they will have to clean this all up when this strike is over?!
I also wanted to point out a few days ago...I was waiting at Runnymede subway station for a bus and while I was sitting, I saw a ttc bus driver throw a HUGE McDonald's bag out of his window. HIS WINDOW! come on seriously? There was about 15 of us waiting and we all saw it and we were like what the hell just happened?
Do people really have this much disrespect for the city? If you treat it like shit then get out.

Jason Ugalde / July 16, 2009 at 02:19 am

Yikes, those pictures are from a first world city?

I'm from San José Costa Rica and it can get pretty bad too if the garbage workers are on strike.

It just goes to show you unfortunately, humans tend to be filthy creatures all over the world.

Tom / July 16, 2009 at 03:47 am

Residents and Business should be looking for alternatives to their garbage rather then placing it in overflowing street bins!

A friend of mine recommended this company http://www.trashtoronto.com
They come to your home/store and remove your trash during the strike

A garbage collector replying to a comment from brap / July 16, 2009 at 07:42 am

Yup, most photos on Spadina (west side) between College and Dundas. A few were taken between Dundas and Queen (both sides). And a few others were taken on College, between Spadina and Bathurst, on the way to getting a coffee at Manic Espresso. I know this because I tortured and killed the photographer until he turned over the answers. I mean I tortured him until he turned over the answers. I killed him because he was being really whiny about it.

Andrew replying to a comment from Carrie / July 16, 2009 at 07:43 am

Actually that cleanup does happen daily on college.

Figures / July 16, 2009 at 08:24 am

No surprise these were mostly taken throughout the Spadina Market.
There is a reason all those restaurants were rat infested long before the strike.
Filthy buggers.

jeremy nathan / July 16, 2009 at 09:17 am

I wish they would stop calling themselves 'city' workers. Their obviously not interested in anyone but themselves. Even the so called 'privatized' workers have a better sense of the employment realities of the world.

Greg / July 16, 2009 at 09:51 am

It's interesting though. I've found that I don't really produce much in the way of garbage. I still haven't filled my small gray can at home and I'm almost full for the medium blue recycling. The hard one is the green bin, thats full with rotten bits and kitty litter. I don't envy the g-man that has to grab thatone...

Greg / July 16, 2009 at 09:56 am

Theres also been a lot of focus on the garbage, it should really be on the daycare, kids camps, and other services. This is really where it's hitting Torontoians, because parents are having to fork out cash for daycares they would have normally had too and all the other people who's jobs depend on services like the ferries. Our taxes aren't going to go down because the city is save a few bucks not paying the strikers.

Jimbliz / July 16, 2009 at 10:58 am

Disgusting...

Save your life with an
<A HREF="http://www.electroniccigarettesinc.com";>Electronic Cigarette</A>

Jarek replying to a comment from brap / July 16, 2009 at 11:29 am

That's the inkling I was getting, but thanks for the confirmation. The rest of the city looks a lot better than Spadina. Paging local BIA...?

Zed / July 16, 2009 at 02:09 pm

Great garbage profile. We need to keep documenting this shit so we can look back and remember when they go on strike the next time. As for complaining about littering, why not litter? If the city is setting an example by not giving a shit, then why should its citizens and tax payers. Dump where you want and live in in, or get down to city hall and protest in numbers. Where are the Tamils now?

Awesome replying to a comment from Zed / July 16, 2009 at 02:18 pm

Hahahaha...the Tamils !!
Remember when we didn't care about their cause either?
Oh how quickly fads fade in this city of ours.
Tamils/Unions....Priceless!!

DavidC / July 16, 2009 at 03:03 pm

IMPEACH DAVID MILLER!

Zed / July 16, 2009 at 04:02 pm

Couple of interesting read "garbage" stories...with no waste produced

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=1794927

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/07/16/toronto-on-strike-business-booms-for-private-trash-hauler.aspx

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/07/16/toronto-on-strike-they-want-to-work-but-their-union-won-t-let-them.aspx

Brent F / July 17, 2009 at 04:27 pm

A mayor with balls would do what needs doing and fire every last one of those union crybabies.

tammy replying to a comment from Brent F / July 22, 2009 at 03:33 pm

hear!hear!

mengzi replying to a comment from t_dotgirl / July 23, 2009 at 03:06 pm

I agree. People can't simply litter and expect others to clean up. We have the social responsibilities to keep our street, our bus and train, our city and province, our country and planet clean.

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GK Scott / June 23, 2010 at 03:13 am

I find it amusing that people complain about garbage on the streets, but don't complain about the people who put it there...whatever may be the reason but garbage pickers should not go on a strike as it affects the city environment.

Danny c / July 1, 2010 at 02:54 am

We need to keep documenting this shit so we can look back and remember when they go on strike the next time. People can't simply litter and expect others to clean up. We have the social responsibilities to keep our street, our bus and train, our city and province, our country and planet clean.

brisbane house painter / July 1, 2010 at 08:13 am

These pictures pretending us that we reconsider that how much we waste the food, and consider the packaging that products develop in before purchasing.
The message problem is a lead of our gild's fluid life-style.

J hass Group / July 8, 2010 at 02:23 am

So surprising that the garbage pickers leave the city like this in a very unhigenic environment.They can't simply litter and expect others to clean up.They have the social responsibilities to keep our street, our bus and train, our city and province, our country and planet clean.

Frieght Broker / July 17, 2010 at 06:26 am

No country can live one day also without the garbage pickers.. but i find it amusing that people complain about garbage on the streets, but don't complain about the people who put it there.

work From home / July 19, 2010 at 02:02 am

This is really a mess. Seems to me that most of the garbage on the streets is created by pedestrians who pack overstuffed garbage bins plus some unscrupulous stores, I guess.

work From home / July 19, 2010 at 02:03 am

This is really a mess. Seems to me that most of the garbage on the streets is created by pedestrians who pack overstuffed garbage bins plus some unscrupulous stores, I guess.

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