Recycling company CEO blames timing of rollout for rocky start to new collection program

The CEO of the recycling company responsible for Ontario's new collection is blaming the timing of the rollout — the first day of the new year — for bins still sitting untouched on some Toronto sidewalks.

Circular Materials, a private company, took over the collection of recyclables for single-family homes, most multi-residential buildings, schools, long-term care facilities and retirement homes across the province on Jan. 1.

But CEO Allen Langdon told CBC Radio’s Metro Morning that timing — decided by the province — was not ideal.

“You're coming right out of the holiday season, you've got inclement weather, you're going to have the heaviest collection days of the year," he said Thursday. "Ontario's a huge province. We can't ignore the fact the scale of this is unparalleled in terms of Canada."

Despite the recent growing pains, the goal is to try to make the transition as smooth as possible, Langdon said.

Langdon said it "wasn't acceptable" that some bins were not picked up.

“We've said publicly that it isn't our expectation that a resident should have anything to do other than bring it out on collection day and have it picked up," he added.

Blue bin collection was taken away from Toronto as part of an Ontario regulation designed to shift responsibility for recycling from the city to producers of blue box materials.

Areas with uncollected blue bins included those west of Yonge Street, from the Humber River east to Yonge Street, extending from Steeles Avenue south to Lake Ontario. Homes east of Yonge Street, from Yonge Street east to Victoria Park, also extending from Steeles Avenue south to Lake Ontario, were also affected.

Premier says hiccups come with change

Circular Materials has made progress in recycling bin collection over the past three days with the help of the subcontracted GFL Environmental Inc., Langdon said.

“What I'm hearing anecdotally and through our service provider is things seem to be running smoothly,” he said. “The focus now is just simply continue to move forward, see recycling improve and make sure that people get the recycling picked up.”

Asked about the rollout at an unrelated news conference Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said hiccups come with any change.

“There's always little kinks and bumps in the road, but [Circular Materials is] getting it together,” he said. “The vast majority of people are getting their recycling picked up.”

In a statement to CBC Toronto, a city spokesperson said the 311 phone line transferred a total of 3,435 calls to Circular Materials between Jan. 1 and Jan. 6. On Jan. 5 alone, 804 people called the line and pressed the option to be auto-transferred to the private company’s general inquiries line.

“While responsibility for residential recycling now lies with the new provider under Provincial legislation, the City has contacted Circular Materials so they can address the matter as soon as possible,” Saira Virani said in Wednesday’s statement.

'It's a nuisance,' resident says

One of those callers was midtown resident Cheryl Chapman. She said her bins are full of items from over Christmas.

“It's a nuisance,” she told CBC Toronto Wednesday. “I have three bags sitting here that won't fit in my recycling. So I have to wait until they pick it up so I can put them in.”

Raina Carrie, another midtown resident, said she also tried calling but was placed on hold for more than 45 minutes.

“I'm happy that in theory the people who are producing the waste are paying for it, but obviously it's not off to a very good start,” she said.

New Democratic Party MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam (Toronto Centre) said that Jan. 1 is generally not the best day to roll out new government initiatives, though there will always be some “transition awkwardness.”

“This government is breaking a system that largely worked and nobody asked for this,” they said Thursday. “Now they're creating a lot of chaos and confusion and at the end of the day, it's actually Ontarians that are stuck with the problem.”

Many families live in properties or homes with limited space, Wong-Tam added.

“Now they have got to find new places to store recyclable material in wet, cold and freezing conditions,” they said. “And it's happening at the worst time of the year.”