Garbage piles up in Toronto neighbourhood almost 2 weeks after major snowstorm

‘The garbage is everywhere, it’s very messy,’ one resident says

Cbc.ca
Jan. 31, 2022
Desmond Brown

The City of Toronto says it's still working 24 hours a day, seven days a week to clean up roads, sidewalks and lanes after a massive snowstorm almost two weeks ago.

On Saturday, there were plans to clear 80 local roads.

But another problem has developed for residents of one neighbourhood: garbage has been piling up because trucks can't get to their homes.

Muying Lin, a homeowner at The Village at York University, said waste wasn't picked up for nine days after the storm.

"The garbage is everywhere, it's very messy," Lin told CBC Toronto. "There's lots of snow so it's hard for the trucks to go through."

Lin said the municipal government should do more to remove the snow as quickly as possible.

"There's still lots of snow here," he said.

'It smells'
A major snowstorm hit Toronto and the GTA on Jan. 17, dumping more than 30 centimetres of snow in some areas and causing major transit and driving delays.

A week later, Toronto was dealt with another blast of snow even as it continued to dig out from the previous storm.

Another resident, Naeel Premji, said his bins have been out for more than a week awaiting collection.

"No garbage trucks have passed by. It has been hard for us to pass through, it's pretty difficult ... it smells," Premji said.

It's 'not good enough,' city councillor says
Coun. Josh Matlow said while he recognizes that it would be a "struggle" to clear the roads and sidewalks after such a "'massive winter blizzard," waiting almost a week and a half is "not good enough."

He said city staff need to address why so many local roads have not been adequately cleared.

"Sidewalks are still impassable and access with respect to garbage, transit, etc. are still really difficult," Matlow said.

"I understand that a lot of people are justifiably frustrated [and] upset. And the city needs to communicate not only what is their long term plan to provide more timely and better quality service, but what is their plan now because we're expecting another snowfall next week."

Matlow said he has heard from residents "on various streets throughout the city," who've had an interruption in getting their waste collected, along with several streets throughout the city that still haven't been plowed, and sidewalks are still impassable.

"There are those of us who at city council next week will be asking a lot of questions about, you know, what went wrong and what can be done better," Matlow said.

"I know that that reflects the concerns of a lot of residents who even after a week since the blizzard, are still waiting for their sidewalks to be cleared, their roads to be plowed and their garbage to begin to get picked up."

Coun. Anthony Perruzza, who represents Ward 7 Humber River--Black Creek, said residents have been calling him to ask why the garbage hasn't been picked up.

"We've been dealing with several municipal departments, snow removal and waste collection, solid waste to see what the issues are here. And we seem to be getting to a point now where they're able to collect your garbage," Perruzza said.

'It's historically been problematic'
Perruzza said clearing of streets and sidewalks in The Village has been a longstanding problem.

"It's historically been problematic because, you know, the city never really acquired the equipment to clean the laneways. So when we get these snowfalls, it's always an issue up here where we're not able then to get into the laneways to collect the garbage," he said.

"And one of the reasons why the garbage, for example, was switched from the main streets to the laneways some years back is because this subdivision was built as single-family housing for people -- and really, what it's turned into is student housing.

That student population means there can be much more garbage to pick up than what the city originally planned for, Perruzza said.

According to Perruzza, once there is a big snowfall "there's very little that can be done" and "people are going to have to be patient."

"We're going to be able to get to the waste once that snow is removed and removing the snow is problematic, always has been," he said.