Results tagged “recycling”

Earlier this afternoon, Torontoist was explaining to an American friend the quirks of the process by which Torontonians are supposed to dispose of our coffee cups: pop the plastic lid off the paper cup and throw them both into the recycling bin—but don't chuck the entire contraption while the two pieces are attached, because that screws everything up. (We love public works.) The City, we said, is currently spending tens of thousands of dollars on consultants to find a way to simplify this, which ideally will result in the development of a paper lid. Yes, it might be easier to create an educational campaign touting the virtues of removing the lid, but legislating that companies produce such PSAs on their own dime would likely be an even trickier proposition. Besides, the less plastic the better. That said, it's hard to describe all this without laughing and using the words "fuckin' crazy," before finally admitting that the process the City is undertaking is actually not all that unreasonable.

Do you think you know what items go into the blue bin, what items go into the green bin, and which things go into the garbage? You don't. Even if you've studied the charts in the collection calendar, attended several meetings of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, read all the municipal news all the time, you don't. Sorry.

Photo by --richelle-- from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Torontonians, in their very own passive-aggressive way, love doing two things above all else: writing public notices and sticking it to The Man. So naturally, after the city started mulling over the idea of actually enforcing the anti-garbage-picking provisions in its waste collection by-law (section 844-20 in this PDF), it didn't take long for some homeowners to disagree. On Hopedale Avenue in East York, one recycling family has attached a sign to its blue bin authorizing scavengers to remove any reusable containers. When we peeked into the bin early on collection day, not a beer or wine bottle was to be seen. Either the scavengers were scrupulously efficient or the homeowner is just teasing them.

The TTC management and its workers' union have agreed that the TTC is not an essential service. However, they are saying this not because they are saying, "Yes, we are useless," but because they both want to avoid contract arbitration. However, since management wants to pay workers less than they would receive through contract arbitration, and the union wants workers to get more than they would receive through contract arbitration, one side or the other has really, really not thought this whole thing through.

Ontario's Environment Minister wants the province to have a scrap-tire recycling program. Tire retailers and collectors are opposed to the idea, because they make their money selling tires to be burned as fuel. Also opposed: the National Burning Stuff Association, who stated, "If we can't burn tires, what are they going to keep us from burning next?"

Federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice has demanded a meeting with the honchos from Bell and Telus so they can explain to him exactly why they decided to charge their pay-per-use users 15¢ per received text message, calling the decision "ill thought-out." Canadian technology users are consequently planning to demand a meeting with Minister Prentice to ask him to explain ACTA and Bill C-61, calling them "ill thought-out."

The federal government's defence plan will cost $20 billion more than the federal government said it would cost, at least according to the Vice Chief of Defence Staff. Stephen Harper responded to the criticism by explaining that the country would be purchasing its planes and tanks through Canadian Tire, and that the Canadian Tire money generated by the purchases would be applied directly to the national debt, thus equalizing out costs.

New glass recycling program will save local municipalities millions of dollars. It turns out that you can turn used glass into other things than smaller bits of broken glass!

Gift cards may make convenient presents for Christmas, but they're a lump of coal for the environment. According to the Consumers' Association of Canada, Canadians will spend $3 billion on gift cards this year, which means a lot of rectangular pieces of plastic will end up in the garbage. Gift cards can be reloaded to extend use, but a person who receives multiple gift cards for a retailer usually keeps only one to reload and throws away the rest. (For example, 96 million Starbucks cards have been activated since 2001 and the cards have been reloaded more than 38 million times. That's 58 million Starbucks cards either unused or used and tossed in the trash.) In addition, most gift cards are not recyclable, says Givex, one of the largest providers of gift cards.

Though the lineup for this year's Virgin Music Festival is, admittedly, pretty awesome, there are still bound to be individuals for whom a full day of live music (and shameless advertising!) is simply not reason enough to make that ferry boat ride out to the Island. That's where Global Inheritance comes in.

Every weekday, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve!

The mayoral debate at the St. Lawrence Centre last night was a success. 27 out of the 38 candidates showed up including LeDrew, Miller, Pitfield and this guy, who is young enough to be their kid.

The City is paying over $28 million to make sure we get bigger recycling bins. The plan is to make recycling easier for Torontonians. We think the Sun's headline spells it out best "Recycling now 4 times the fun." Who could hate that?

None of these things is just like the other, but here you go anyway: