Toronto unlikely to privatize east side garbage pickup

Mayor John Tory promised to contract out garbage collection for areas east of Yonge Street while campaigning last year. According to a new report, however, that may not be happening anytime soon.

While switching to a private contractor for pickup in Toronto's west-end saved the city $11 million, municipal staff don't believe that a similar move would have the same result.

"There have been productivity improvements for in-house collection following the decision to contract out District 2. Provided that these gains are sustained and improved, the best value and lowest risk to the City of Toronto at this time is to continue with the current model," the report reads.

Staff suggestions are to be debated by the public works committee next week. While Tory campaigned on the promise to privatize east end garbage collection, it's unclear if he'll fight to push that through given the positive appraisal of current service and cost levels.

Photo by the Lemur in the blogTO Flickr pool.