City’s garbage privatization plan

City informs union of intent to contract out trash removal
Council to debate privatizing Toronto’s garbage collection
Kris Scheuer
(Written for Town Crier Feb. 7)

Mayor Rob Ford announces a plan to privatize more of the city's garbage collection. Photo by Kris Scheuer/Town Crier.

Mayor Rob Ford is poised to deliver on another election promise, this time to privatize garbage collection.
“As you know I campaigned on contracting out garbage,” Ford said at a city hall press conference today. “Today is the first step in that procedure. We notified the union at 11 am that we will discuss contracting out in May.”
Ford added that he was taking this step to prevent the city suffering through another garbage strike as well as to save money and reduce the size of government.
“That’s what people elected us to do and that’s exactly what we will deliver on,” he said.
The city is looking to contract out three aspects of the current public service: daytime, residential curb-side collection west of Yonge Street to the Etobicoke border for about 165,000 homes (garbage collection in Etobicoke is already contracted out); collection of litter and recycling in all city parks  and an additional 25 percent of the city’s litter vacuum operations to bring it up to 50 percent privatization.

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Toronto eyes contracting out garbage

Mayor Ford plans to privatize some waste collection
Some recycling and litter contracts will be privatized as well
Kris Scheuer
(Click to read updated story.)

Mayor Ford is looking to contract out some garbage contracts and avoid scenes like this from the summer 2009 garbage strike. Town Crier file photo.

The city has issued a notice it plans to start looking at contracting out garbage, litter and recycling in Toronto. A press conference a 12:30 today will provide more details and I will report back (click here to read that update.)
Here’s the full press release.