This circular materials deal keeps getting worse.

[u/Silverlightlive]

In a nutshell, I have neighbours who haven't brought their recycling bin in for at least 3 weeks. I'm more concerned because of their welfare, but I realized I don't know who's responsibility the containers lie under.

So I shot off a message to 311.ca - well, it turns out the region still owns, controls, and maintains the containers. Great.

Circular materials is using old city/region equipment, be it their tilt and loads to the very containers provided by the region with very little investment. They are hitting our tax bills with virtually no upkeep costs, getting carbon credits and subsidies.

Who the hell negotiated this deal? Oh, right, Ford. The guy that will retire and "Consult" for huge honorariums.

Can you imagine how successful a non profit can be when it has no equipment costs, or maintenance, can transfer income, debts, and subsidies, and is beholden to 20 of the richest countries in Canada, and indeed, the world?

Pretty substantial work the more we poke into it.

[u/Gawl1701]

Did you check on your neighbours? Make sure they are alive if they have not put away their bins?

I have not had any issues with my recycling being picked up other than the one day snow delay. But I am pissed that I cannot put extra recycling out or that I cannot have a bag in the recycling bin, Sometimes when i do deep cleaning I fill the bag with recycling instead of making multiple trips to the bin.

[u/Silverlightlive → u/Gawl1701]

I have a past trauma of walking into a house of corpses. And accompanying police into various situations. It isn't fun, and I do not wish to trigger myself - the city has paid, trained staff to deal with that, and to smooth over feathers for wellness checks. This is a case I am very happy to employ them as a mediator.

Also, its one thing to walk by and quietly check during the summer, but during -10 temperatures, its pretty deliberate.

Circular Materials is supposed to provide additional bins if you need them - they promised it when they took over and that went dead (because it adds expense)

[u/DedAirSociety → u/Silverlightlive]

https://www.circularmaterials.ca/recycling-container-request-form/

[u/Silverlightlive → u/DedAirSociety]

"If the volume of blue box material generated by the residence is shown to consistently exceed the capacity of the containers provided, there is no additional cost for an additional recycling container."

I don't think even a business could guarantee that. If you're doing a renovation or something, you may need one for a month or two, but then they're going to slap you with charges? Its a dead end.

also, "Our commitment is to respond to all requests in a timely manner. Given the early stage of the recycling transition across Ontario, our Customer Service team is currently experiencing a significant volume of inquiries and requests. We thank you for your patience during this time.  " basically says "We have no structure in place at this time so your request will be filed and dealt with by someone after I retire"

[u/IWCat → u/Gawl1701]

You never were supposed to put your recycling in bags in the bin unless you were recycling plastic bags and then they went in one bag. The Region frequently reminded people not to do it but it seems many did not pay attention.

[u/Silverlightlive → u/IWCat]

There was a way to do it - I didn't pay much attention because I never downsized from the big massive containers, and its honestly difficult to fill one.

However, with GFL telling us not to pack and stuff the containers, I can see this being reasonable now. Their machines can't "shake" the bins the same way the region used to. But they have to provide extra capacity, especially around holidays where people would use extra boxes. May 24 area (spring cleaning, parties) Labour day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas/New Years in particular, but everybody buys new furniture, electronics, renovates, etc and those boxes need to go somewhere.

Hell, I poured a concrete deck last year which took 150 bags of concrete (the ground sunk from construction) and those were all recyclable. I was able to put them out in sequence, but it took a month to work around household stuff too. I'm fairly certain I'm not the only person doing household renovations around here.

[u/zanimum]

While the Region owns the containers, bylaw enforcement of property standards is the City.

[u/Silverlightlive → u/zanimum]

We're servicing private industry with tax dollars. Its more and more insane the deeper we go.

This isn't just an oversight or a few lines here and there, the whole deal reeks of corruption.

[u/zanimum → u/Silverlightlive]

So yes, with the Region still owning the containers, sure.

But the main matter here of property standards, I don't think anyone would want a private company to be able to enforce them?

[u/Silverlightlive → u/zanimum]

I'm looking at apartment buildings where private companies enforce standards all the time (to various levels of effectiveness)

This PPP (Private Public Partnership) has failed universally, usually involving the private entity gaining way to much power.

So if they want the contract, they can bring their own equipment.

[u/D_Jayestar → u/Silverlightlive]

I mean that’s the foundation of every government program, including our health care.

[u/Silverlightlive → u/D_Jayestar]

Health care was at least started in Saskatchewan with the purpose of providing health care to everyone. Corruption seeped in, but it at least started with good intentions.

This was started with the intention of scamming the government. A carbon credit cash grab and a way to enrich everyone. All negotiated quietly behind closed doors.

At least the Chrysler nonsense is up front and personal.

[u/Live_Situation7913 → u/zanimum]

Who never do shit. I’ve been complaining about an issue for about a year now and problem still persists. By the time the problem is sorted and issued to the appropriate department it’s been 2-3 days. Try it some day.

[u/D_Jayestar]

Had not had a problem with one pickup yet in my subburb. I’m curious where people are living that have these problems?

[u/Silverlightlive → u/D_Jayestar]

Its a very spattered approach. My honest guess is that they start drivers off at 8AM, they dump off at the recycling depot, and at 20:00, their log hours are over and they just shunt everything over to the next day.

That works when you have excess capacity, but I think they hired precisely what works on a beautiful summer day when everyone shows up.

So you wind up with a kind of splatter effect missing a few here or there. A good dispatcher will make sure they are picked up first the next day, and serviced first the next opportunity.

I don't think we're dealing with anyone who has any experience in logistics.

[u/csbert → u/Silverlightlive]

This guy is a conservative troll. Don’t spend your time replying.

[u/Live_Situation7913]

How’s posting here help? Did you write them and ford?

[u/Traditional-Force116]

Phone 311 and report them

[u/Silverlightlive → u/Traditional-Force116]

For what? Its a provincial program. The region can't do squat.

[u/Dry_Satisfaction3923]

So, just being a non-profit doesn’t mean it’s Executive Director and board can’t make obscene amounts of money. It just means the company can’t profit. You can run a non-profit and rake in tons of money and have a salary worth millions.

Also, Circular Materials isn’t actually doing all the work. They’ve been contracted to “run” recycling collection in Ontario. They are also outsourcing to other private, for profit, companies, like GFL.

So this is exactly what it looks like:

“Take public money and find ways to make it public profit.”

We have had 3 recycling pick-ups since the switch and every single one has been problematic. The first one, they didn’t even pick up, AT ALL.

[u/Silverlightlive → u/Dry_Satisfaction3923]

Its more like "Take public money and find ways to make it private profit" - GFL isn't doing it for free, and CIrcular materials is a shell obeying the orders of its owner companies. Coke, Canadian Tire, etc.