| 1 | 06/21/2005 05:02:33 PM | [Blank] |
| 2 | 06/22/2005 10:37:29 AM | [Blank] |
| 3 | 06/27/2005 09:37:09 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | They are too big and ugly. They look like a cash grab. I have been to many world class cities and I have never seen such ugly things before. | No | “I believe that they are a blight on the urban landscape. There are better ways to deal with the issue of garbage. Between the billboards on the buses and the hideously painted streetcars, it really looks like Toronto is for sale.” | [Blank] |
| 4 | 06/28/2005 08:53:22 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | We are already bombarded with advertising! | “Perhaps if they were a little shorter and less “in your face”” |
| 5 | 06/28/2005 11:08:27 AM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | I went to Canada’s Wonderland the other day and I noticed that everywhere you went there were garbage bins but not one recycle bin. Can’t the government or the city do anything about that???? |
| 6 | 06/28/2005 05:31:31 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and Browns Line | Yes | Very simple to understand and at the right height. | Yes | They are perfect. | Yes | The city should look for more and improved ways of getting more revenue. This bins are superior to the current bins. | The city should allow the installation of this bins throughout. They are great. |
| 7 | 06/28/2005 05:33:08 PM | Yes | Lakeshore (Long Branch Go) | Yes | No problems with the bin. | Yes | Perfect. They look great. | Yes | The city need more revenue. | The bins look great. |
| 8 | 06/28/2005 05:34:17 PM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | They well positioned | Yes | [Blank] | They blend and feel like Toronto. |
| 9 | 06/29/2005 08:02:50 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | “The newly designed advertising signs are garbage! And , being illuminated, will contribute to light pollution and smog.” | No | “So sucked in by “free”! And, like the current crop of garbage cans – we will be faced with sidewalk clutter and no meaningful revenues. Charge the foreign company $5000/can/yaer and let them sell the advertising – let’s see how fast they back out!” | UGLY! UGLY! Why not sell the side of all govt. buildings while you’re at it. |
| 10 | 06/29/2005 08:54:07 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “I think they will take up far too much space. Their height could be a danger to pedestrians, blocking the view of traffic and vica versa.” | No | The Toronto Star reported the city would recieve 1 million more than they are making right now off the current bins. That amount of money is in no way worth selling public space to advertisers. | “Beyond being sick of bombarded with advertisements, I think they are inefficient. They are not lablled well and they are much easier to overflow.” |
| 11 | 06/29/2005 09:31:06 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | “Please consider ,1 the hygiene will I have to use my hand to open? ,2 the amount of energy used to power the lighted garbage bin” |
| 12 | 06/29/2005 10:18:13 AM | No | hmmm soon to be in my face no matter where i go. | No | “well, i tend to avoid advertising, so no, i wouldn’t ever place garbage in these. if anything, i would smear it all over the ads.” | No | “hey! just what i wanted, a gigantic ad that’s bigger than me! right in my face! isn’t the city great?!?!?” | No | no! no! no! there IS more behind this than meets the eye. think for a moment at why a company is willing to provide 3000 bins free of charge and allow all the revenue to go to the city. advertising is distorting everything. we are being subjected to a cruel fantasy world every moment of our lives. the sheer number of ads already in the city is OUTRAGEOUS and this is not going to help. think beyond advertising for money. think hard. | “take them down. i warn you. they will be the most vandalised items in the entire city, right next to those goddamned tv screens you put in the subways. you’re making grave mistakes and inching one step towards being another version of america. commericialization is terrorism. be warned.” |
| 13 | 06/29/2005 11:08:00 AM | Yes | Intersection of Bathurst and College St. | No | “The bin was not practical and was poorly labelled. The hole for the recycling was terribly small while the garbage bin was near its capacity and about to overflow. The garbage bin is unnecessarily tall and was much less convenient than a simple, ordinary trash can.” | No | “These bins are an absolute nusance to pedestrains and I personally saw several people’s handbags get caught at the edges of the garbage bin. Nobody uses the side facing the street and therefore the side facing the sidewalk is almost always full to the brim. Unlike regular trash bins, these new garbage/recycling bins are hard to use and create an obtacle on the sidewalk.” | No | “I am totally against installing these large, awkward bins on our already crowded streets. It is a prime example of how our city cares more about advertising revenues than the convenience of its taxpaying citizens. Along with other Torontonians, I resent the commercialization of our public spaces and truly hope that this government is not corrupt enough that it will listen to private advertising agencies rather than the voices of the people.” | “My only suggestion is that the City of Toronto listen to the taxpayers and remove these awkward, ugly, and inconvenient garbage bins off the street. They are a nusance to pedestrians and make the surrounding area look terrible to the eye. They are not aesthtically pleasing and the only reason they are so big is so that our already beggardly and stooping government can beg for some more money through advertising revenues. The cigarette holder, garbage/recycling holes are badly labelled and too small to deal with so much garbage. The fact that more attention has been spent on the advertising side of the bin is proof of the real motive behind this project. Listen to the citizens and do us all a favour; let Toronto return to the non-corrupt and clean city that it once was.” |
| 14 | 06/29/2005 11:47:35 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | Too BIG! | Yes | “1. Not enough financial return from the ads for the city.2. There is enough advertising clutter on city streets. Get rid of the advertising and make our city clean and beautiful!” | They’re ugly. |
| 15 | 06/29/2005 12:00:43 PM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 16 | 06/29/2005 01:24:27 PM | Yes | “Lake Shore Blvd. W. near the Long Branch GO station” | No | I did not see any recyclable slots. Its also hard to tell that its a garbage can as it appears to be nothing more than a large billboard. | No | “These are way too big for the sidewalks. We need normal sized garbage containers that take up no more space than they have to, not billboards with little garbage containers hidden inside.” | No | These are nothing more than billboards. The city should spend the necessary money to keep our public spaces free of giant billboards. | Get rid of them. They are intrusive and overbearing. |
| 17 | 06/29/2005 02:12:19 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and 30th St. | No | “No, the top two hole in particular are not labelled well enough.” | Yes | They are positioned in a manner that make it difficult to access one side of the bin. | No | “These bins are an eyesore. They are a danger to pedestrians and motorists because they block vital sightlines. I would not want to be turning a corner and hit a shorter child because I had not seen them approaching an intersection, or if they were to dart out from behind a sign to J-walk. They are unatractive items that take away from the streetscape and are a disturbing sign of the times that put corporate wishes ahead of public needs. We already have too much advertising on our streets in our newspapers, on tv and radio, in magazines, etc..... I’d rather the city use un-intrusive, practical bins made of recyled materials. If any info is to be posted on them, it should be public awareness messages or maps of the area. The bins must blend into the surroundings and be easy to empty and maintain, and they should not block any sightlines that would interfere with pedestrian/bicycle traffic. The city is holding a symposium this week on Urban design, so listen to them and don’t make this mistake. Think about whether or not you would like to stare at one of these 7 foot monsters.” | [Blank] |
| 18 | 06/29/2005 02:41:17 PM | Yes | Not sure close to lakeshore Go station | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | I like them I think that the argument that more waste will be produced because of the bigger bins is insaine and I don’t understand the rationale behind it. | Yes | “I have no problem with the advertising, as long as the city uses that money to better Toronto for the public (maybe for use in outdoor programs) as opposed to just filling pockets” | “Not really other than these bins are already in use across North America and in Europe so why not in Toronto, Montreal seems happy with theirs.” |
| 19 | 06/29/2005 04:01:27 PM | No | [Blank] | No | poorly set up.....Not good if your short...also...needs better desigaton signs | Yes | I hate it....why are you selling more public space...its sick | No | They are ugly.....maybe if they were bulit into bus shelters that would be a verygood idea; not the way they are now | [Blank] |
| 20 | 06/29/2005 04:15:58 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “They are way too big and overpowering for the street corners. It obvious what the purpose is here for the bins and its not to collect garbage. Why not get Eucan to fix the bins they already own which are broken and dirty. These bins restrict views of cars, impede pededstrian traffic and dont encourage people to dispose of garbage. I dont get how a bigger garbage bin that looks like a giant billboard will get people to recycle and dispose of their litter anymore than they do now” | No | “please read above.A VERY BAD IDEA....DONT SELL THE CITIZENS OUT” | YES!!! FORGET ABOUT THEM AND FIX THE ONES WE’VE GOT. THEY ARE PERFECTLY FINE FOR WHAT WE NEED |
| 21 | 06/29/2005 04:47:41 PM | Yes | “Lakeshore and Brows, Etobicoke” | Yes | “Labels could be better, but once I read the instructions, it was easy.” | Yes | Made sense--I could get around both ends. | Yes | Better than increasing my taxes! Welcome to the real world. | “Just do it already. You don’t need to consult on everything. WAY better than the old OMG bins! Looks new, modern and slick.” |
| 22 | 06/29/2005 07:01:17 PM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Once I realized it was a garbage can it was easy to understand and use. The descriptions are clearly marked. | Yes | “I do not believe the position to be an issue, they are in convient locations and do not differ significantly to other designs.” | No | “Although without more information of the levels of revenue generated by the advertising space it is hard to comment. The fact that we recieve these bins for free is only valueable to the city if they are additional garbage bins (i.e. they arent replacing any old bins) which in that case more trucks/labor would be required of the city to pick us the additional bins. In such a situation I do not see how ad revenue would equal out the costs of increased pick up. Furthermore, the ads are a bit of an eye sore to the city and the controversy over the issue may prove to be more of a headache than its worth, especially from an systems perspective as the ads would such up precious electricity.” | “Instead of looking for ways to increase revenues it might be beneficial to look for ways to reduce costs. New York is purchasing the BigBelly compacting trash can which will compact garbage/recyclables using solar power (i.e. now power drain) and signal when they are full, reducing the amount of time and energy spent on trash collection. The labor saved via waste managers could be spent on advocating for more recycling. Compacted waste also saves on the number of trips to Michigan. Many private business are considering private financing of these bins as they would save significantly as well as improving the city look on gabage day.” |
| 23 | 06/30/2005 07:35:40 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | n/a | [Blank] | “Although I have not yet seen one, they look effecient and Toronto has to become cleaner once again. People complainabout rats but if they disposed of the garabage properly that shouldn’t be an issue.” | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 24 | 06/30/2005 10:01:57 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & 41 | No | “Poorly labelled,no lid on the garbage can” | Yes | “they are positioned poorly,half of the opening face the road,they block the sidewalk” | No | “They are not designed well.Contamination rates will incrase.Bad for pedestrians.” | “City staff should be guiding the design principles of our street furniture, not advertising companies.” |
| 25 | 06/30/2005 11:41:35 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | My only concern is that they will be used for papering. (advertising pasted by others). | [Blank] |
| 26 | 06/30/2005 12:27:32 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and Brown’s Line | No | “Poorly labelled, and the side that’s faces road dangerous for me to use.” | Yes | “Horribly. They should be parallel to the road, not perpendicular.” | No | “We have too many ads on the streets already. I might find it acceptable if they were worked into a bus shelter design, thus not creating more visual pollution.” | “Please do not accept this. The city had a chance to buy 2,000 of the smaller, non-advertising bins last fall (which city staff reccommended). Please buy those and install them. The silver boxes are cheap and horrible too.” |
| 27 | 06/30/2005 12:33:11 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and Brown’s line | No | “I was disgusted to see the sheer size of the thing. Also, the litter bin is not covered which will srtink on hot days and allow squirrels, pigeons and seagulls to get into it. Who wants to put their garbage away when there might be bird poop everywhere.” | No | The one side faces the road and I was on the sidewalk so I didn’t see that side. | No | “Sorry, but this question is a leading question. I think too much of the design deals with the concerns of EUCAN and the advertisers and not rsidents.” | “I think it is very bad that they will be illuminated especially when we have had 27 smog days in Toronto already. We need to conserve, not waste. I’m not sure any of you see the irony of how much electric-energy will be wasted while these bins are meant to reduce waste. It makes me wonder what the politicians were thinking.” |
| 28 | 07/02/2005 11:59:20 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | N/A | Yes | I believe that these are better looking than the traditional silver waist-height bins. | No | “The bins are a good idea, but I’m not too keen on the commercial advertising sign, unless it is an importamt message, like “child find”. Does the City receive that revenue?” | Is there a list of designated areas for this pilot project? |
| 29 | 07/03/2005 10:54:31 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “Absolutely not!!! almost every inch of sidewalk space, window space, public transit and everything else is already covered in advertising. It seems anyone will sell anything of themselves to advertisers for a little bit of free stuff. the city is willing to advertise for others, becasue they get a little freebie. The city is selling out, offending people with even more inches covered in advertising. People are sick of ads already. do something decent.” | “The picture shows the bins as dingy grey. Use some colour, some life, some excitement to promote a new possiblilty in environmentalism, not sell it out in dingy grey with ads. This idea is exciting, so it needs colourful bins to perk things up a little.” |
| 30 | 07/04/2005 12:20:24 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “City recieves money for these and our parks look like crap?? Grass never cut garbage never picked up,what a joke!!” | “Why doe sit have to be so big and awark looking,not everything has to be big on our streets” |
| 31 | 07/04/2005 07:02:53 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | More smaller recycling bins with no advertising on them. |
| 32 | 07/05/2005 03:00:03 PM | Yes | Lakeshore & 26th | Yes | The cigarette disposal could have been more clearly marked | Yes | “The look great, clean and modern” | Yes | The smaller silver ones are ugly these are really modern and look nice | “The should be lighted at night, like New York City” |
| 33 | 07/05/2005 04:09:15 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | Take up way too much space. | No | We don’t need any more visual pollution in Toronto. I think that some of the grafitti artists( whom the city is currently hounding)are doing a better job in trying to beautify this city! | Yes--don’t put them on our streets! They are way too big and very UGLY! Let’s not sell out to corporate interests once again. Usually I support David Miller but not this time. I think this is a huge mistake. I find nothing wrong with the old bins. The amount of space for advertising on these new ones (versus the amount of space that the actual openings for garbage take up) clearly shows the true motivation behind this. I’m incensed that you would even think of putting these hideous monstrosities on our streets!!! |
| 34 | 07/05/2005 04:20:52 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Ihave not seen one yet |
| 35 | 07/05/2005 04:44:35 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 36 | 07/05/2005 07:47:35 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “difficult to see around, ,create an eyesore since they are so tall” | No | “Just because something is free/provides a little bit of money doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for Toronto. I would rather have traditional style garbage bins that made the city look nicer than have “modern” bins that “paid for themselves” but looked awful.” | [Blank] |
| 37 | 07/06/2005 04:27:42 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | n/a | [Blank] | n/a | No opinion | “I am not in favour of advertising, however it would be nice if the city could get them for free.” | It would be wonderful if an organic waste slot was added. (And had specifications as to what could go into it). |
| 38 | 07/06/2005 10:08:57 AM | Yes | lakeshore and browns line | Yes | “No flaps, great.” | Yes | No problem | Yes | The city needs more money. | Ashtray a great idea. |
| 39 | 07/06/2005 10:37:24 AM | Yes | Lakeshore and Dixie | Yes | “It is easy to use, very practical” | Yes | I think the position of the recycling bins is very good. It is convenient and the openings for garbage are practical. | Yes | “The City needs garbage and recycling bins. If they will be installed for free and the City will get money for them, what could be better?” | I like the design. It will give the City a cosmopolitan look. |
| 40 | 07/06/2005 11:10:34 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brownsline | Yes | very well labelled | Yes | Looks classy | Yes | More garbage cans means less litter. | [Blank] |
| 41 | 07/06/2005 11:23:39 AM | Yes | Lake Shore – Brownsline | Yes | It’s very easy to use. It’s very well designed. | Yes | Good placement. | Yes | “This is a win – win situation, specially for the city.” | Install more !! |
| 42 | 07/06/2005 11:41:27 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brownsline | Yes | “Very nice, clean, and easy to use” | Yes | They look great!! | Yes | “Absolutely yes, ,the city will be cleaner, and that is exactly what we need.” | Congratulations to the City for the new adquisition |
| 43 | 07/06/2005 11:47:17 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brownsline | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | I think it’s great. They are beautiful. | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 44 | 07/06/2005 11:48:29 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brownsline | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | I like it | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 45 | 07/06/2005 12:18:08 PM | Yes | Bloor and Dundas West | Yes | [Blank] | No | It was not obvious to me that both ends could be used to deposit materials. The other side was near the edge of the sidewalk next to traffic | No | “What is wrong with the bins currently in use? What will happen with them? Is it cost effective in the long term to use the new ones? Will it not cost the city to have them produced and installed? People will still put newspapers and other recyclable items in the GARBAGE compartment of the new bins, they are already doing so with the bin I saw.” | Did no one notice that there are spelling errors on the signs? Cigarettes is incorrectly spelled as CIGARRETES and I thought Newspapers was one word not two. |
| 46 | 07/06/2005 12:39:13 PM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brown’s Line | Yes | very easy to use | Yes | “Very well positioned, do not take up too much room.” | Yes | It will provide a valuable revenue source for the City as well as an easy to use and clean place to put your garbage and recycling. | They are great! |
| 47 | 07/06/2005 01:49:49 PM | [Blank] | Lakeshore & Brownline | Yes | it’s really practical | Yes | it doesn’t block the sidewalk. I didn’t feel that was in my way | Yes | [Blank] | “I love it, really make the city look clean and prettier” |
| 48 | 07/06/2005 06:30:41 PM | Yes | Lake shore Blvd and 26th Street | Yes | much better than the current bins | Yes | “that’s the way the advertising is sold, so if advertising pays for this units that’s the way they should go, besides it’s the same way transit shelters are positioned” | Yes | this will help with not having to increase taxes | it’s great that the new design there’s no need to touch the flaps to get rid of your garbage. Maybe they could work something out with the rubber flaps on the recycling receptacle to improve |
| 49 | 07/06/2005 09:14:18 PM | Yes | Windermere & Bloor | No | “- Signage is ill-placed. Why are symbols not affixed to each opening?,- Shape of recyclables opening is unfamiliar.- Garbage bin too small.” | Yes | Ads are large and obtrusive; also a road hazard as it blocks the view of traffic on that corner | No | We are bombarded with enough advertising in our public environments. We do not need garbage receptacles half the size of bus shelters. | OMG Media receptacles are preferable. |
| 50 | 07/06/2005 10:05:55 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 51 | 07/07/2005 06:14:43 AM | Yes | pacific and dundas | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | It totally shielded the retailers window and took away their ability to show off their wares | No | “It is essentially a billboard with a few garbage attachments. With it being at street level, it will always be stealing from sightlines into retail buildings.” | Find other ways ways to make revenue but stealing retailers window space should not be one of them. |
| 52 | 07/07/2005 09:19:49 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “Too large & aesthetically unpleasing, especially for an urban environment. Complete eyesore.” | No | [Blank] | “Is it not possible to develop an ad-free, human-scale, inconspicuous bin?” |
| 53 | 07/07/2005 04:59:28 PM | No | [Blank] | No | Not applicable | Yes | “They are too high and block the view of traffic for both motorists and pedestrians. There are driveways and jaywalkers everywhere, so this is a concern even if the bins are located away from major intersections.” | No | “No, the traffic safety issue must be addressed.” | Ugly and a blight on our neighbourhoods. |
| 54 | 07/07/2005 07:11:20 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No opinion | as lonng as they do not interfere with l | don’t like these bins to block businesses eg. Dundas & Pacific |
| 55 | 07/07/2005 10:46:39 PM | Yes | Bloor and Windermere | No | The receptacle most accessible to the sidewalk is already full. The other side of the container is dangerously close to traffic. | Yes | “This bin ruins the streetscape and blocks pedestrians’ view of oncoming traffic. Only one side is reasonably accessible, and the garbage receptacle is much too small.” | No | “The bin I’ve seen is an eyesore. It blocks the view. I’m not particularly opposed to advertising on garbage bins, but these structures are far too big and, especially considering their bullk, disappointingly inefficient. I’d prefer paying taxes for the bins we have, rather than giving up so much sidewalk real estate to these signs. Surely we can get better value--a better-designed bin, a less intrusive sign--for the advertising revenue.” | “Please, please don’t install these! Toronto will be a much uglier city if you do.” |
| 56 | 07/08/2005 04:31:16 AM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 57 | 07/08/2005 09:27:08 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 58 | 07/08/2005 09:28:18 AM | No | “It’s obscene, just an excuse to put more billboards on the street and the city gets revenue” | No | The bin is far less efficient than the existing ones | Yes | “Oppressive, intimidating, monlithic eyesore” | No | You suck | “They will probably be defaced by local graffiti artists, like everything else on our street and then be an even bigger eyesore” |
| 59 | 07/08/2005 11:32:18 AM | Yes | On Bloor between Keel and Dundas West | No | [Blank] | Yes | “I absolutely hate it! It disrupts, invades and ruins our outdoor experience. Our sidewalks are crowded already, we don’t need a 7x5 foot advertising RUBBISH BIN blocking our view of the street and taking up space that we should be using to walk our dogs, for kids to ride their bikes and roller-blade...and for mothers with strollers...to have a breath of fresh air with ease. It is completely impractical and unnecessary I want it off my street!!” | No | “ABSOLUTELY NOT! PLEASE Listen to public opinion! It is terrible, It is huge and invading, intimidating and takes up your whole view of the street. Please, we hate it. I dont know how to emphasis the huge negative effect it will have in our communities, please keep Toronto beautiful, not damaged with blocks of trash.” | “I understand that the advertising space will give money to the city, and i am always up for Toronto being prosperous, but we are already bombarded with ENOUGH billboards and advertisements already, and to have something so big, and in your face that just ruins any natural experience left to waking our streets is just a devastating thing.” |
| 60 | 07/08/2005 11:49:46 AM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | See comments below. | No | “Absolutley not! This is not the way to generate revenues for the city. Our public spaces are becoming nothing more than adverizing space. Pedestrians must negotiate around all these boxes paper boxes, garbage and recycling. Our sidewalks have more paper boxes that produce more garbage. Reduce the number of paper boxes on first and then the amount of paper recycling will be reduced, which will reduce the need for more recycling bins. The proliferation of free newspapers adds to the garbage recycling problems. Address the root of the problem rather than dealing with the symtoms. Enough already!” | This questionnaire is does not ask the fundamental question of whether or not the City should generate revenues by providing garbage/recycling bins for advertizing. It is a thinly vailed proposition by the advertisers to provide free bins because the revenues generated from advertising would more than cover the cost of the bins. The questionnaire treats the subject as it is just a practical matter of whether the garbage/recycling bins are easy to use and are well placed on the sidewalks. I’ll watch for the staff report on the bins. |
| 61 | 07/08/2005 02:40:33 PM | Yes | Bloor & Windermere | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] | They are accessible and much nicer to ‘touch’ | Yes | [Blank] | The more – the better!! The old bins look dirty and are small and always overflowing |
| 62 | 07/08/2005 02:41:58 PM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brownsline | Yes | no problem | Yes | I like them much better than the old boxes | Yes | [Blank] | no |
| 63 | 07/08/2005 03:13:02 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “It took me a while to realize that paper goes with cans and bottles. this is counterintuitive. Also, the billboard/can was on an angle making one side of it too close to the road for easy use.” | Yes | “They are too large and take up too much of the street especially when angled to appeal to drivers. Also, isn’t this type of possible distraction dangerous to drivers? I am opposed to recycling bin that uses electricity in its everyday functioning. Further the ads encourage consumption not conservation.” | No | “They are too large, obstruct large parts of the sidewalk, offer a distraction to drivers and project a mixed message about recycling and consumption. There must be a better option.” | [Blank] |
| 64 | 07/08/2005 05:53:59 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and Superior in Mimico | No | “Not really. If you’re short then it is awkward to get to the bin (think child trying to reach up and over the top). The opening for garbage is cramped and the bin I used, people had left their garbage on top of the opening.” | Yes | “They are too tall for them to be put on the sidewalk. The positioning (advertising facing the sidewalk, rather than the street) block the view down the sidewalk and interrupt the visual continuity of the neighbourhood. They are awkward and are out of place in any neighbourhood.” | No | They are not really about collecting garbage or recylcing but rather a billboad that has trashcans inside. If we as a city are going to keep the garbage to a minimum we have to have real trash bins that are accessible and easily accessesible. | “These bins could present a potential safety hazard. Because they are so tall someone may easily hide out of site from people coming from the oppposite direction. Because they are in the middle of the sidewalk, it is very difficult to use normal safety tactics (walking a safe distance from them) because one would end up in the street. I am definitely NOT infavour of these types of bins. Because of their size the are just obtrusive and are just another way to be bombarded with advertising. Please don’t put them on our sidewalks.” |
| 65 | 07/08/2005 09:42:58 PM | Yes | “Lakeshore Blvd. West, west of Kipling.” | Yes | [Blank] | No | “Bin is positioned too close to the street. It is impractical to use the “other side” of the bin. I was not even aware that there were receptacles at both ends of the bin.Placing the bins perpendicular to the street obstructs visibility. Why are the bins not placed parallel to the street?” | No | I am opposed to the sale of public space for advertising purposes. | [Blank] |
| 66 | 07/09/2005 01:40:08 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “Even though the openings are somewhat easy to understand, there is ample evidence of misuse already. The garbage receptacle is full of stuff that should go elsewhere (such as newspapers and cans). The cigarette butt collector is counterintuitive, and given that most people don’t smoke, I’m not sure why they are there. Also, we are already used to separating paper and cans, in the old style garbage bins, so why put them together in this redesign? Also, the garbage receptacle is simply far too small. Unless it is going to be emptied every few hours, I cannot see that this could be effective, except as a way to spread trash all over the street when it overflows.A final complaint about the design: why on earth is the garbage can part open? A good wind comes up, and its all over the street! Why no lid or flap, like on the old model? You mean that I have to look at the ugliness that is this seven-foot-tall billboard AND have to look at everybody else’s garbage as well?!” | Yes | “The placement of the bin seems to have more to do with showing off the advertising up and down the street than with the purported purpose of being an effective garbage can. Even though the bin can collect at both ends, one end is so close to the street that it can hardly be used without stepping into traffic. Of course, were the bin oriented the other way, most of the foot traffic would not be able to see the huge advertisements from hundreds of feet away.My final comment on the placement of these bins is that they are so large and obtrusive that, even where the sidewalk is wide, they block more than half of the walking space available. Perhaps this is also a reason why the one garbage collecting end of the bin is practically hanging over the curb.” | No | “I have lived in this city for eighteen years, and have watched with some dismay as advertising has overrun our public spaces. I was a bit annoyed with the garbage bins that were introduced a few years back, but my annoyance was offset by the fact that it was a bin that provided an opportunity for people to recycle on the go, and also that the bins were well constructed and not too obtrusive.These things are MONSTROSITIES. There is no other word for it. They are huge, ugly, rather shoddily made, obtrusive both visually and physically... I cannot say enough bad things about them. The presence of a single one on my beloved street makes the intersection look like a tacky multiplex lobby. I shudder to think what more would look like. Even if each of these bins would generate a MILLION dollars annually for the city -- and of course they wouldn’t -- I couldn’t countenance it. I appreciate that Toronto is perpetually underfunded, but if these monster bins end up blighting our public spaces, I can predict two things:,Firstly, whatever revenue the city generates from them will be significantly eaten away by the chronic vandalism that these bins invite. My first impulse on seeing this things dominating the street corner was to run home and get my baseball bat! Do you really think that the city could afford to keep things of this size free of graffiti? ,Secondly, I will -- and for the first time -- begin making plans for leaving Toronto, my chosen home, a city I love, but a city that is increasingly not the place I came to, because it is getting ugly out there, and these things dramatically increase the ugliness.I implore you! Do not shake hands with this devil!” | “I think that I’ve made my basic position clear(!) I was proud to work on David Miller’s campaign, and am proud that he is our Mayor. The vision is that of a clean city? Why deliberately pollute the urban beauty of this city with these tawdry things? For a few bucks? Please increase my taxes instead!,I cannot stress it enough: if these things end up all over town, I will run screaming, and another municipality will get my property taxes, and my transit fares, and my parks and rec fees, etc. Don’t break my heart!,Keith Denning,Toronto” |
| 67 | 07/09/2005 07:47:56 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles & Howard Park | No | “Garbage recepticle is too small. It is stupid to have the garbage can open, for things will blow out of it. Why do we need an ash tray. Smokers are too gross to bother to use it!” | Yes | “The question is moot. These UGLY, offensive bins should not be on ANY PART of the sidewalk!!!!!!!!!!!!” | No | “Raise my taxes instead. Why sell out to the advertisers. Or, if you want bins with advertising, make them tasteful, practical (with large enough, closed, places for waste)and not much larger than the present bins.” | “The present bins, with their advertising, are ugly and a disgrace to the city. These new bins are MUCH WORSE and go counter to the big campaign to make tourists come to Toronto and like them. Don’t bother with a survey. KILL THE NEW BINS NOW!!!” |
| 68 | 07/09/2005 09:43:57 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “The design is awful. The holes for recycling/garbage are clearly marked because too much energy is focused on the advertising. Their shape makes them akward on the sidewalks and look like they are designed more for the drivers in cars to see the ads rather than the pedestrians who both use and share space with these billboards. It’s clear that these new bins have been with increasing advertising space in mind and not helping keep our city clean of litter. Surely there is a better design out there, somewhere.” | No | “As I said earlier – they’ve clearly been designed with car drivers in mind. They are taller that a basketball player and so they block the view of the road from pedestrians, which is very dangerous. Since I was a child, I’ve been taught to always keep my eye on the traffic as I walk along the sidewalk. These bins block my view of the road and thus threaten my safety. Not a wise design. ,Also – they’re lit up like billboards! This design not only taxes our city’s precious electricity grid, it also turns our sidewalks into a series of illuminated banners. Very tacky and unsightly. Can’t we design a garbage/recycling bin that fits naturally into it’s environment? Something that looks like it should belong on a sidewalk with people, not something that towers over them?” | No | “No. There are other ways to increase revenue that don’t involve the selling off of our public space. You don’t own that patch of ground. The citizens and tax payers of this city do. An alternative would be the solution that many city staff favoured – purchasing 1000 recycling bins without any advertising. ,The revenue from these bins will be off set by other costs – the added drain on the electricty grid, the environmental damage from maintaining the bins – lightbulbs into the landfill, old ad posters tossed away and lastely the cost to our visual public space. ,Stop thinking in the short term – stop selling off our public space to advertisers. We are citizens, not a bunch of consumers whose attention needs to be captured.” | “They’re terrible on many levels. They’re taller than the tallest Toronto Raptor. They suck more electricity from our grid. They’re one more distraction to car drivers. They pollute our streets with ads for more junk that we’ll throw away (jeans, phones, pop, etc) and they’re abilities as garbage/recycling bins are merely an after thought. ,I say ditch the bins, and let’s start thinking on solutions that improve our city instead of bringing in a few extra bucks. ,The new bins have got to go!” |
| 69 | 07/09/2005 12:00:10 PM | Yes | Bloor St. W at Windermere | No | “Well the recycling slot is very small so I noticed that the garbage slot was jammed. And the way the whole bin is set up the other set of slots is facing the street and therefore not accessible. I think if the slots are at the two ends then the ends should both be facing the sidewalk. Again the problem will be that it’s emptied regularly (barring any strike action). Too often the old, regular bins are stuffed to overflowing.” | Yes | Pls. see my comment above. It’s a huge bin and the way it’s parked on this particular corner is not good. | Yes | “Yes, IF they are maintained. The advertising is harmless as long as people understand how the bin is set up. Right now you have to stop and read the thing before realizing what goes where. will everyone do this???? And I worry the slots are too narrow,so people will be reluctant to use them if they think they’ll get their hands dirty!” | Make sure they’re monitored – hire students to keep an eye on their use. They’ll be able to spot flaws! |
| 70 | 07/09/2005 04:57:43 PM | Yes | ronces and howard park | No | “it was a fucking eyesore and disaster to use, spilling garbage and visually polluting the area” | Yes | there is NOTHING wrong with the old ones. why are you changing things just to change things and grab more ad money | No | because they are hideous and 7’ is assaulting on my senses | don’t do it or they will be trashed |
| 71 | 07/09/2005 10:18:47 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles/Howard Park | Yes | “The bin was easy to use, but that being said, the old bins were just as easy to use as well.” | Yes | “I think that the only factor taken into consideration in the placement of these bins is how well the advertisments can be seen, rather than how well it can be accessed. Even though there are openings on both sides, one side is so close to the street that it is practically useless for pedestrians (unless you want to step into traffic)” | No | [Blank] | “Yes, get rid of them- they are absolutely hideous, and an unfortunate eyesore for the city.” |
| 72 | 07/09/2005 11:13:39 PM | No | Roncesvalles / Dundas | No | Obstructs the sideway passageway. | Yes | Bad location obstructs the view and bins on one end can only be used if you are standing in the street | No | They are too tall. They are really unacceptable because they block the view. I feel they are looming over me. They will significantly detract from the neighborhood feeling. | Would be fine if they were sideways instead of vertical. The problem is you cannot see past them as you can with the current bins. |
| 73 | 07/09/2005 11:23:51 PM | Yes | Pacific and Dundas West | Yes | [Blank] | No | “The bins are obtrusive and ridiculously oversized. In the case of the one bin I have used, I think it is an obstruction and an eyesore. I think that the bin concept is a poor one.” | No | see above | “What was wrong with the old bins? They seemed to work perfectly well, and they weren’t nearly as obtrusive.” |
| 74 | 07/10/2005 01:28:42 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 75 | 07/10/2005 05:10:51 PM | Yes | Windemere and Bloor | Yes | [Blank] | No | “If both sides are to be used, then one side should not be facing the street as it is pretty dangerous to use the one side close to the curb.” | Yes | [Blank] | The compartment for litter needs to be bigger. |
| 76 | 07/10/2005 07:21:33 PM | Yes | Just east of Bloor and Keele | Yes | “The labels are clear and openings are at a good height. However, the openings on the street side are a waste because it is too close to the curb.” | Yes | “I don’t like them. They are too wide, and block your view of what is ahead. And the openings on the street side are useless unless you want to see someone step into traffic.” | No | “I think this is a total waste of space and money on the city’s part. Advertising on containers like that have no impact on me unfortunately, and the fact it blocks the view of what is ahead of you is a safety hazard. The city could find other ways to bring in extra revenue. Besides, on the old bins, the only advertising you see is city or not-for-profit ones – who says companies will actually use these???” | PLEASE DO NOT GET THEM!!! |
| 77 | 07/11/2005 01:37:37 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | they take too much space. | No opinion | [Blank] | the older metal garbage bins. nothing wrong with those. put more of those around the city. |
| 78 | 07/11/2005 06:23:16 AM | Yes | Bloor and Indian Road | No | I was confused by what was supposed to go where. I had a plastic bottle and some paper to recycle. I think one of the bins was for cigarette butts. This surprised me because I didn’t think smokers would go out of their way to find one of these bins. Instructions and openings were not intuitive. | Yes | “They blocked the view of the street. I couldn’t see cars coming or transit vehicles (if there were any on that street.) The second bin, close to the street, would be impractical because no one would walk there. There is no room left between the bin and the edge of the curb. (I only knew about the second bin because I had seen this survey in advance.)” | No | The small amount of revenue gained does not offset the loss of public space to advertising. I’d be happier to increase property taxes slightly more. | “It appears that the entire upper half is unnecessary, at least for storing garbage. Also, it does not at all communicate the idea of a garbage bin. It says “billboard.” ,From a distance, one would not know that this is a spot to put garbage. Finally, to adequately provide a busy street with enough bins to effectively control garbage, (i.e. perhaps every 50-100 metres as it seems we used to have in some areas)would result in a massive proliferation of unsightly and obtrusive bins. ,Toronto can do better.” |
| 79 | 07/11/2005 08:55:52 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | Blocks the sidewalk too much. | No | They block the view too much. | They are too tall. Should place them sideways so they are no higher than current bins. |
| 80 | 07/11/2005 09:39:53 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles South of Dundas | No | Practical – no. Practical would be 1/2 the height. | Yes | Obstructs views and walking. Why is it diagonal? Nothing else is diagonal on the sidewalk – because that hogs space. Serves no practical purpose but advertising. | No | I very strongly object to the height of these bins. We do not need such patheticly obvious billboards littered about. Isn’t the city saturated with ads enough? They are an eye-sore. A lot of people walk in this city – why are we squeezing them out? | “At recent design awards David Miller urged designers (architects, etc.) to do a better job in the city. What’s the point if the street vista is blocked by these dumb billboards (let’s get over calling them recycling bins, because if that’s all they were, they wouldn’t have to be more than waist height)?! Picture yourself as a pedestrian, standing on the sidewalk – these billboards obscure the visual continuity of the street. Imagine Bath England or Turin Italy with these thing plunked in the way? I guess we never will be a world class city after all.” |
| 81 | 07/11/2005 11:38:55 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “I have not seen them but if it’s at no cost, why not try” | Yes | “worth a shot, we don’t seem to loose anything” | [Blank] |
| 82 | 07/11/2005 12:52:21 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 83 | 07/11/2005 03:04:08 PM | Yes | Lakeshore & Brownsline | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They are much nicer and cleaner than old boxes, easier to use, no flaps to hit yout hand.” | Yes | It’s nice to see the city actually doing something about the garbage in the city. | [Blank] |
| 84 | 07/11/2005 04:27:53 PM | Yes | Bloor and Windermere | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “The side facing the sidewalk is great, the openning on the road side is too near the road and too close to the corner, I would be worried that a fast turning car might not see me standing on the edge of the sidewalk” | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 85 | 07/11/2005 09:47:13 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles near Dundas | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “It’s so big and so close to the road that it blocks my view of traffic, people and buildings from a block or more away. As a woman I like to be able to easily see what is going on around me... not possible with this large behemoth.” | No | The bins in current use support recycling and advertising... therefore revenue should be available from these bins. Their horizontal format allows one an unimpeded view of what is going on in the area. I don’t believe we should compromise our aesthetic values for money. | “The vertical format and large size are very intrusive... this new bin is an affront to pedestrian traffic. David Miller is recommending that Toronto be beautified... I believe this can “uglifies” the city. Ship them out!” |
| 86 | 07/11/2005 11:26:47 PM | Yes | Howard Park + Indian Road | No | “Bin openings were small, and capacity was very small. Signs were obscure – oh, except for the enormous ad frontage, which is the only real purpose of these boxes.” | Yes | “The ad boxes are obscenely large and rude intrusions on the sidewalk. It’s like having a roottop billboard blocking it.Someone could hide behind one, ready to attack. The signs seem to say, your city has been sold out from under you, and you will have no peace from ads even in public space – there is no such thing anymore. OBSCENE.” | No | “NO NO NO NO!!!,Raise my taxes a buck a year, and leave me alone on the sidewalk!,The City is not in the ad business, and selling off public space is not ethical.” | “Why is the City trying to block postering, while putting huge billboards on the SIDEWALK? Can you say, stinking hypocrisy?,Is the message that only those willing to pay off the city get to speak?,Postering is a historical right, and necessity to democracy. Huge commercial billboards are an erosion of street life, and a repulsive sellout. I doubt there is any public support for this at all.” |
| 87 | 07/11/2005 11:30:30 PM | Yes | Bloor/Keele | No | There is way too much information and too many different openings | Yes | “They are very gaudy and awful to look at. They will also pose a safety risk to the public as it will obstruct the view of oncoming traffic or cyclists. As well, it ruins the outdoor experience when you walk out of your residence only to be slapped in the face with advertisement. It makes me angry.” | No | “As mentioned, it will not be worth the increased revenues if it will pose a hazard to the public. It is very obstructive and in the way of pedestrians.” | “Please do not go ahead with this. We do not need to have a towering 7 high x 5 wide x 2 deep object that takes up at least 20% of sidewalk space that will not only crowd the street scape, but also cause a stench in warm weather when it is filled to capacity.Not only that, what is the point of having a dual sided garbage opening when one side is facing the street. In order to access the other side, one must lean precariously over the edge of the sidewalk at the risk of getting hit by zooming traffic...NOT A GOOD IDEA!!!” |
| 88 | 07/12/2005 08:34:27 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | Have to stand in the street to use one end. | Yes | “Blocks the sidewalk too much, and too tall to see over.” | No | They are looming over me. Blocks my view of all the nice neighborhood things I used to see. Too tall. | Too tall. Should get ones that are waist-high so you can see better. |
| 89 | 07/12/2005 11:42:32 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | Will these new bins replace the existing green ones? Am I supposed to carry my wet garbage to them? | [Blank] | [Blank] | See 4. above. |
| 90 | 07/12/2005 06:12:07 PM | Yes | Bloor and Windermere (Bloor West Village) | No | “The garbage bin was tiny, no larger than a trash can under a sink. Since other garbage bins in the city sometimes overflow, a bin this size is hardly useful. Also, the bin nearest the street was too close to traffic. This structure is obviously a double billboard with garbage and recycling collection added as an afterthought.” | Yes | “I’d be concerned that this bin would block the view of drivers and pedestrians. Besides, this bin blocks the view of Bloor West Village, a neighbourhood that’s known for its great street life--an element Toronto needs more of.” | No | “I sympathize with city councillors trying to balance the books without raising taxes, but I’d prefer to pay more taxes than to have these eyesores dotting our sidewalks. You might put a small dent in a deficit, but I think you’ll create a lot of dissatisfaction.” | “It’s easy to see why the company that created these bins is offering them “free”: the advertising revenue would probably be enormous. The trade-off for the city, however, would be terrible. These structures would discourage community life on our sidewalks; their usefulness and, I’ll bet, the revenue they would reap for the city is paltry compared to the disruption they would cause. If we need to sell city space to advertising companies, surely we can do better.” |
| 91 | 07/13/2005 08:01:40 AM | Yes | jane $ steeles | No | “It is better to have a bin that can be used in passing, without stopping.” | Yes | “They are intrusive, must be walked around instead of by.” | No | “The benefit of extra advertising space doesen’t, it seems to me, have to come at such a high cost: the bins are an eyesore.” | “I appreciate when a good design solution is achieved. However, the garbage storing component of these bins (their real function) seems compromised and is inconvenient to use. I resent that a large scale, freestanding, sidewalk billboard-something never seen before-is being pushed on us in the guise of a service.” |
| 92 | 07/13/2005 09:48:34 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles Avenue & Howard Park | [Blank] | “The bin was easy to understand, but as far as ease of use NO as the receptacle was already full and clearly misused as everything seemed mixed up.” | Yes | It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Clearly more an initiative to get more advertising dollars then it is to keep our city clean. It takes away from the landscape of our city and blocks any visability from our streetscape. Someone obviously is lining someone elses pockets if these receptacles are to be erected throughout the city. | No | Absolutely not. I would be more in favour to have my taxes increased then to litter the city with these monster eyesores. | Open your eyes! Visit other cities and see what they have done to rid their cities of trash...how about enforcing littering penalties...if someone actually followed through with their by-laws then there would be money to spend on better looking receptacles and people would be afraid to litter in fear that they may be charged. These laws have no teeth. |
| 93 | 07/13/2005 11:18:54 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “Difficult to determine what trash goes where, especially with the combination of the cans and bottles with the newspapers. This slot is also too high for children to to reach. Finally, it appears that the cigarette butts could easily fall into the general trash section and start a fire.” | Yes | It takes up to much space as it is positioned diagonally across the sidewalk. Also it appears to be a perfect spot for a mugger/rapist to hide. | No | “Please see my above comments. Also, the city should not be encouraging consumption the same time they are encouraging recycling. Finally, as the city is cracking down on A frames and other local advertising it is hypocritical to allow national advertising of such an obtrusive nature.” | Please do not continue this program after the trial |
| 94 | 07/13/2005 11:57:42 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | They are too large. Giant billboards blocking the sidewalk. | No | “If we are having electricity shortages, why are they illuminated? Who is paying to light them up, the taxpayer?” | “If we are having electricity shortages, why are they illuminated? Who is paying to light them up, the taxpayer?” |
| 95 | 07/13/2005 01:15:47 PM | Yes | Bloor & Winderemere | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Very convenient | Yes | [Blank] | They look very modern |
| 96 | 07/13/2005 02:03:41 PM | Yes | dundas&pacific and somewhere in bloor west village | No | not good for the wheelchair bound. the current bins are much easier to use. people I spoke to thought there was no recycling/ or were confused is it glass only or glass plastic and paper? | Yes | “as a driver I am concerned about sight lines being cut off.as a pedistrian I am concerned about potential hidden attackers.” | No | “I am not in favour of the new bin design. I am not in opposition to ad revenues generated by them, but already the local prostitute in my neighbourhood has set it up as her base of operations.” | “I can see people making book and other undesirables taking them over as an outdoor office. the local prostitute in my hood loves it. it has a shelf for her drink. an ashtray for her smokes and a bin for her... I have already seen the bins overflowing and people setting garbage on the shelf above the bin. lidless trash receptacles attract vermin. I’m sure the seagulls love this bin, as do the squirrels and rats.the design is too obviously an advertising revenue cash grab. I have no opposition to advertising piggybacking on public projects so long as the function of the intended item is not hindered by the adverts. if you need help redesigning this project or have any questions regarding my concerns please do not hesitate to contact me at [redacted]” |
| 97 | 07/13/2005 10:17:01 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and Fourth St. | No | Difficult to understand initially and not practical for easy disposal while walking by. | Yes | “Too close to the sreet, very intrusive and obtrusive. A real eyesore, it might as well just be a billboard. Obstructs view of both vehicular and pedestrian traffic.” | No | “The lower profile and simpler existing stainless steel bins are much easier to use, less obtrusive and also have revenue potential.” | “Safety, asthetics and overall practicality are NOT words I would use to describe these bins/billboards.” |
| 98 | 07/14/2005 10:29:25 AM | No | “I have not used them, but I have seen the one on Pacific and Dundas” | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | I think these are the ugliest garbage bins I’ve ever seen. They are an eyesore and detract from the neighbourhood. | No | The city has spent a lot of money and time on neighbourhood revitalization and making our streets attractive. These bins detract from the streetscape and should be removed. | “I am rarely moved to comment about these sorts of things; however, these bins are so unattractive that I was prompted to fill out the survey. Please remove them.” |
| 99 | 07/14/2005 11:12:55 AM | Yes | Dundas & Pacific | Yes | It wasn’t obvious looking at these units that they were actually for garbage. First and foremost they look like a superstructure to hold advertising. | No | “They are incredibly ugly. They take up to much visual space for their function. I much prefer the existing boxes with 3 slots (for paper, cans and bottles and for trash). These have room for advertising but they are not so obtrusive.” | No | “Advertising and revenue for the city is a great idea (times are tough). However, these things are terribly designed. Professionally I work in a design environment for museums. I would get fired if I designed anything so ugly.” | Back to the drawing board. I would suggest staying with the same profile as the current garbage/recycling bins (i.e. more horizontal rather than vertical). The new design is a space occupying eyesore! |
| 99 | 07/14/2005 11:12:55 AM | Yes | Dundas & Pacific | Yes | It wasn’t obvious looking at these units that they were actually for garbage. First and foremost they look like a superstructure to hold advertising. | No | “They are incredibly ugly. They take up to much visual space for their function. I much prefer the existing boxes with 3 slots (for paper, cans and bottles and for trash). These have room for advertising but they are not so obtrusive.” | No | “Advertising and revenue for the city is a great idea (times are tough). However, these things are terribly designed. Professionally I work in a design environment for museums. I would get fired if I designed anything so ugly.” | Back to the drawing board. I would suggest staying with the same profile as the current garbage/recycling bins (i.e. more horizontal rather than vertical). The new design is a space occupying eyesore! |
| 100 | 07/14/2005 11:55:06 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 101 | 07/14/2005 12:09:41 PM | No | [Blank] | No | n/a | No | They are too damn big and mar the visual landscape | No | “Toronto is cluttered with more than enough corporate advertising – turning the streetcars into billboards is ugly enough, do we have to build ridiculously tall street-level billboards too?” | “Can we please try to make the city more aesthetically pleasing, and not less?” |
| 102 | 07/14/2005 12:19:43 PM | No | “but i have seen them around the city (Long Branch, etc.)” | [Blank] | haven’t had a chance to use one yet | No | “they look good and the extra advertising revenue for the city would be nice, hopefully used to keep the city cleaner” | Yes | [Blank] | curious as to how they work and looking forward to trying it out |
| 103 | 07/14/2005 12:32:18 PM | No | why aren’t their sizes measured in METRIC? | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “we use metric, not imperial measures in Canada” | No opinion | [Blank] | Stop using imperial measures :) |
| 104 | 07/14/2005 12:43:28 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | NA | No | have not noticed them | No | “I find it disturbing that a garbage can which is supposed to be a functional container will have advertising, it distracts people from the real purpose of the container – furthermore why would a company want their product associated with refuse, the only reason I can think of is that the advertising is cheap to buy, if so then it’s probably not generating that much revenue” | “garbage bins should look like garbage bins, then perhaps people will use them more” |
| 105 | 07/14/2005 01:22:48 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 106 | 07/14/2005 01:42:30 PM | Yes | Steeles & Jane | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 107 | 07/14/2005 02:05:08 PM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] | “like them, very innovative and attractive” | Yes | [Blank] | “Keep them, time to move forward with something new and innovative. Makes the streets and city look a hell of a lot better.” |
| 108 | 07/14/2005 03:43:30 PM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “First off, I like the progressive design of the bins. Nicely modern, a trait too few elements of Toronto seem to have. But please keep the size of advertising space to a minimum. There is absolutely no need for it to be as large as it is save for corporate interests. This will be a very telling gesture by the city – in permitting the saleable rights of the basic amenities of public urban space, it is essentially telling Torontonians that the space is not theirs, that it is worth far more to sell it to the business community and that thses intersts trump those of the citizenry. A few million more to be made on advertising each year simply is not worth the message behind it. Please give this some though.” |
| 109 | 07/14/2005 04:22:30 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | They take up too much space. | No | “Simply install more of the existing format, which include advertising, but aren’t as intrusive.” | [Blank] |
| 110 | 07/14/2005 05:24:58 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 111 | 07/14/2005 06:00:49 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “I find them too large and imposing, dominating the area around them.” | No | They’re simply too large and don’t blend into the area at all. There is too much advertizing in this city as it stands. | Stick to the units that already exist. |
| 112 | 07/14/2005 06:25:26 PM | Yes | Martin Grove and Finch | Yes | “It’s easy to understand, however, it seems that a lot of people are throwing everything in the garbage part of the unit. This is most likely because the sign for the different compartments isn’t on the side which you put the trash/recycling in. (some people get confused easily)” | Yes | [Blank] | No opinion | It would depend on the advertisement. | Put labels for the different compartments on all sides of the unit. |
| 113 | 07/14/2005 07:02:08 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | Revenue at the cost of civic beautification is not worth it. There are a frightening amount of commercial ads in Toronto. I am tired of being advertised to on a constant basis. | “They are huge and unsightly. I do not want to see them cropping up all over the city. The actual receptacle is quite small, yet the imposing ad space is well over six feet tall.” |
| 114 | 07/14/2005 07:34:39 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | “confused me, bin was overflowing at the time.” | No | I think they should be more central and emptied more frequently | No | We live in a world where everything is either related to advertising or taxes. We pay our taxes. Buy bins so we don’t have to look at advertising. | take them all out and replace them with normal bins. |
| 115 | 07/14/2005 09:35:36 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | “Have to stand in street to use one end.Not much bin space for the monstrous size.” | Yes | “Even though they have a smaller footprint than the current bins, they obstruct the sidewalk more because they are angled across the walk.” | No | “We would receive revenue from better-designed bins as well. The city has to act in the interests of the polity as a whole, not only from the perspective of the pocketbook but also from the perspective of what makes an excellent city. Vertical bins which block the view do not take in so much more money than equally-sized horizontal bins that do not block the view. Even if they did take in more, is that worth making this a city in which pedestrians have a poor experience? Is there not an economic value to a lovely city in which pedestrians are valued for their participation rather than hemmed in as cattle for advertisers? These people are, after all, shopping while they stroll, and the more pleasant their experience the more loose their purse-strings.” | “The economic complaint about the current bins is that they are the wrong size to accomodate standard advertising posters. The difference in size is not much, and the general concept of a horizontal bin can easily be retained while accomodating standard size posters. There is no need to obstruct people’s view and thereby detract from the value of this city.” |
| 116 | 07/14/2005 11:01:45 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “The damage that this would do to the city’s landscape far outweighs the revenue we would receive – even if it is a great amount of dollars. Our city’s landscape is worth spending money to protect and should not be sacrificed to finance other areas. In addition, the city’s potential advertising space is nearly maxed out, and the result is that the city’s character and beauty is already being compromised. A barrage of advertising weakens Toronto’s image before tourists, and is an assault upon those who live here. It steals away the unique colour, texture, and beauty that Toronto has boasted for many years. ,I would be willing to support more creative measures in order to prevent these garbage cans from taking over our streets, and urge those involved to reconsider this plan.” | [Blank] |
| 117 | 07/14/2005 11:35:33 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | They obstruct my view of what is going on along the sidewalk and neighbourhood. | No | “making money is one thing, making money at the expense of a nice place to live is another. Isn’t the new deal for cities meant so that this kind of behaviour isn’t needed?” | [Blank] |
| 118 | 07/15/2005 12:18:47 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 119 | 07/15/2005 07:26:58 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | hmm... | No opinion | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 120 | 07/15/2005 10:02:33 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | They block the sidewalk. | No | [Blank] | They should not block the sidewalks. |
| 121 | 07/15/2005 11:28:57 AM | No | “Seen one, though.” | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “In people’s sight-lines. Besides being aesthetically disheartening, I felt it posed a possible threat e.g. to women walking alone at night. It’s creepy not knowing who’s standing behind there. Also certainly in the way of people with disabilities (i.e. in wheelchairs), strollers, etc. Why are they so large? Are you encouraging people to produce more garbage?” | No | “As a City employee, I can safely say that sacrificing our city streets is just not worth it. I know our coffers are bare, but unless these bins are decorated with useful tourist info or works of art or poetry, I just don’t see the payoff.” | “Not to give you sass or anything...but have you seen the movie Bladerunner? As a young person, I’d hate to be part of the brain drain. But with ideas like this, I’m not sure I’d have a choice but to move to another city where the garbage bins aren’t taller than I am. Sorry, guys – I know you’ve put a lot of work into this, but I just can’t support it.” |
| 122 | 07/15/2005 01:13:43 PM | Yes | Bloor and Armadale | No | “Cigarette part is difficult to determine. Also not necessary as there are now so few smokers in Toronto, and very few smoke on streets; they do so in Europe where they were designed” | No | “impede pedestrian traffic (unlike old OMG ones),obscure pedestrians view of motor traffic,obscure view ahead on sidewalks” | No | “They are eye-sore, and could prove dangerous. Also old OMG bins did not have these disadvantages, but also had advertising which was less disruptive.” | “There is the potential for persons to hide behind these huge bins and use them as a place from which to startle, steal, assault,passers by” |
| 123 | 07/15/2005 01:16:00 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | The city has enough advertising as it is. | “No matter how many new bins would be installed, people would continue to litter.” |
| 124 | 07/15/2005 02:15:40 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | I don’t want to be bombarded with more advertising. There is an excess of it now. | I haven’t seen them therefore it is difficult to answer these questions. How do they work?. It looks like there are drawers? I would like to know what is wrong with the current recycling devices? Are the new ones designed with safety in mind i.e. anti-terrorism. |
| 125 | 07/15/2005 02:18:41 PM | Yes | Can’t remember | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They take up too much room and block what little view pedestrians have. My understanding is that they also use electricity, which doesn’t seem very practical.” | No | I don’t know that revenue increases should mean a decrease in the quality of life. | “Maybe smaller advertisements on the current size bins. The current ones seem more geared toward cars, and too much of the city is geared toward cars rather than people.” |
| 126 | 07/15/2005 02:25:24 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “I’ve not seen them in person, but isn’t 7’ a little gigantic? Who is reaching 1.5 feet above their head to toss their trash?” | No | [Blank] | “Seriously, rethink this design. It’s ugly, large and impractical. What is wrong with our current recepticals? The openings are a bit small, but are at human hand level which is a plus. As well, the current design blends into the streetscape. Why would we want to make our garbage stand out? Ick, seriously.” |
| 127 | 07/15/2005 08:27:51 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “They impede a clear view of the sidewalk, and also to some extent, the street itself. There seems to be no reason to do so except for the advertising made available. Is the safety of citizens and the pleasure of reciprocal visibility to be made subordinate to the demands of consumption?” | No | “These proposed bins seem to me to be the worst design possible that a city would choose to situate in its public spaces. The balance seems entirely weighted towards the advertising side of the equation. Even as they are argued to provide ‘more space for recycling’, to be ‘easy to use’ it is blatantly obvious that it is meant to be a ‘poster holder’ first, and a garbage bin second. Would it be too much to ask that it look like a garbage bin and that it not be the most largest and most inelegant and crassly commercial version of street furniture employed by any major city I’ve inhabited? ,If you put up these particular garbage bins after the fallout from the ‘toronto unlimited’ campaign, it is very much going to look like amateur hour at City Hall.Thanks for considering my response.” | [Blank] |
| 128 | 07/15/2005 08:51:57 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “One end butted into the sidewalk where people are trying to get by, and the other end was near the street” | Yes | “I have only seen one of the new bins on Roncessvales avenue. I’m not sure if it was a mistake but the huge bin was placed, diagonally so it really interfered with the people walking, this is a busy sidewalk. I had also heard that the bins might be lighted up at night, bad idea, it competeds with the signs of existing merchants, and will cause them to have to make their own energy wasting lights bigger.” | No | “No, the old bins are nice. No amount of money would be worth putting these large pedestrian blocking billboards on out sidewalks. If they want to advertise to drivers, put them on the street where they will be blocked instead.” | “The old ones were pretty good, they went sideways and were in a position parallel to how people walked along the street. This meant it is more likely there will be room to put trash and recycling in its place. Please do not block the sidewalks with more advertising, we should be encouraging walking, not turning the sidewalks into billboard space for motorists.” |
| 129 | 07/15/2005 10:14:26 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “They seem to be an impediment to pedestrian traffic and a hazard for cyclists (pedestrians might step out from behind them into the path of a cyclist. The pedestrian would probably get back on the curb right away and not be injured, but the spooked cyclist would probably swerve into traffic to avoid them).” | No | “I think the existing garbage bins are sufficient. Perhaps more of those would be a good idea, or a larger amount of advertising dollars should go to the city from them.” | They are TOO HIGH. Nothing on the sidewalk should be able to obscure a full grown person. 7’x5’ provides an AMAZING little shelter for anyone trying to hide from anyone else. Such as the police. |
| 130 | 07/16/2005 08:52:38 AM | Yes | Bloor and Runneymede | No | We had to stop and figure it out. It isn’t intuitive. | No | It is positioned more for the benefit of the advertiser than the user | No | Public service messages or city events would seem more appropriate and a good opportunity for the city to connect and inform the public. Commercial Advertising already has enough ad space everywhere esle. | Please make them functional and benificial and considerate to the community and the location that they are placed. |
| 131 | 07/16/2005 09:31:02 AM | No | [Blank] | No | The advertisements and huge billboards are more eye-catching than the bin itself. I was confused as to the purpose of this enormous structure. | No | I think they are incredibly ugly. I feel embarrassed to stop and read about them in the street because they are so huge. Why can’t a garbage bin just look like a garbage bin? The billboard attached to it makes it look ridiculous. | No | “Absolutely not. There is already enough advertising on public space in the city. First it was posters on the sides of buses, then the windows of TTC buses were covered with a film that allowed advertisers to display a huge ad, showing off their product. The ads distract from the bin.” | “They seem out of place and completely “over the top”. I would be more than happy if the city removed them.” |
| 132 | 07/16/2005 11:34:24 AM | Yes | Dundas West & Pacific | Yes | “However, if the true aim of these new bins is to handle garbage, recycling and cigarette butts more efficiently (as opposed to selling ad space), this could be easily achieved with lower receptacles (as we have now) but with larger openings and a provision for cigarette butts.” | Yes | “They are too tall. No matter where they are positioned, they will block views in some way. The lower receptacles we now have are easier to position without creating the visual and pedestrian interference these new bins do.” | No | “Our sidewalks are already littered with newspaper boxes, sandwich boards, and (in our neighbourhood at least) display racks and produce bins from vatious stores. In order for these new bins to be effective as an advertising medium, they have to be positioned in such a way to visually block sidewalk views, and also cause an obstacle for pedestrians. Our city is turning into one giant billboard -- from the giant billboards of Dundas Square and in fact, all through the city, to the ludicrous sight of TTC buses disguised as chocolate bars and Yellow Pages,to the giant ads on every transit shelter to the sandwich boards and other junk on our sidewalks. Enough already!” | “If the City’s true aim is to develop better, more efficient bins, it should improve on the current, lower and less intrusive bins. What is the point of a city beautification drive if we’re willing to clutter our sidewalks further with advertising? I realize the City would receive these huge, ugly and intrusive bins for free, but is it really worth it when balanced against what they would do to our streetscapes?” |
| 133 | 07/16/2005 02:27:59 PM | Yes | Bloor and Windermere | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | They’re positioned so one side faces the road. You have to almost have to step onto the road to use this side. | No | These bins are too large and such an eyesore. They seem to be more of a billboard with two small garbage cans attached. The recycling opening seems too narrow. People don’t want to touch the bin to get their recyclables inside especially after the opening becomes dirty. The garbage cans seem too small and they’ll be overflowing easily. I would be greatly disappointed if these were the future garbage bins to line our major streets. | “I’m not sure if I know what the problem is with the the existing bins. They look good, they are low key, and I believe they have advertising on them. The only downfall I see with them is the spring loaded flaps on them that get all dirty and digusting. People will just get their garbage in half way before the flap closes. Some of this garbage will fall to the ground and in no time the opening gets, or looks like, its blocked. Along with the three month trial of the new bins, I would like to see the city take off the flaps of the existing bins and see how they work. Lastly, I believe the new trial bins will filled with garbage bags from residents living close to these as is seen with the garbage cans in some of our parks and ‘Green P’ parking lots.” |
| 134 | 07/16/2005 11:31:47 PM | No | “no, but i’ve walked past them.” | No | “easy to use, but like the existing ‘divided waste bins’ its always disgusting to push the bottle/trash the last little bit trying to avoid touching the gross lid. Rubber openings help, but am curious if theres something else that will stay open temporarily that is obstruction free opening.” | Yes | i don’t like how deep they go into the sidewalk. when walking in groups they obstruct traffic as they are unnecessarily deep. Though its a trade off since the poster sized boards are revenue generators too. First and foremost sidewalk space should be considered. | Yes | “yes, but do they have to be 5 feet deep. Could they be something less and just have advertisers print/design the ads to fit.” | [Blank] |
| 135 | 07/17/2005 12:54:29 PM | Yes | Lakeshore & kipling | No | the openings are too small | No | take up too much room | No | there is enough advertising space out there without cluttering the streets with any more | sounds like another cash grab at the expense of our urban landscape |
| 136 | 07/17/2005 05:35:10 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | “the bins should promote city services and have maps of the neighbourhoods they are in, might be more useful then promoting consumerism and will help people get around the city and to know were they are” |
| 137 | 07/17/2005 08:01:16 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “not that great of a design, it’s not user friendly!!!” | Yes | “They block the sidewalk. also i’m concerned with the height, some one can easily hide behind them. also they block the view of the storefronts, ie: the one located at Pacific and Dundas” | No | “The black OMG boxes are more attractive(if a garbage can,can be called that) than these new garbage cans” | Get rid of them! |
| 138 | 07/17/2005 10:49:21 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “They are not as practical as the existing three holed “real” waste disposal units. They are too high for kids. The cigarette dispenser could be a problem! Especially if people put lit smokes in other cubbies.” | Yes | They are SERIOUSLY ugly and obtrusive. I think that they could be dangerous for women in that someone could be waiting behind one and mug/rape her. | No | As a local business owner a do not like the thought that these big biz ads would encourage people to shop elsewhere!!! | Please listen to the people and do not waste time installing. They are awful. |
| 139 | 07/18/2005 09:55:09 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | haven’t used one. I like using the old ones ... nobody can hide behind them! | Yes | “They are too big, and the garbage cans are too small – don’t hold much! They block the view, and people can hide behind them easily at night and possibly scare you or even attack you!” | No opinion | “City receiving increased revenue: where is the revenue going to go to? What are they going to do with the money? Improve public services, or give a pay increase to those supposedly running the city?,These are the few questions that I would like answered before I can form an educated oppinion!” | Could you not increase the size of the garbage cans on the sides? Also ... most of them are now positioned such that to use one side you would be too close to the border of the sidewalk ... dangereous! |
| 140 | 07/18/2005 10:12:25 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | N/A | No | I have not used one as yet. | No opinion | [Blank] | No |
| 141 | 07/18/2005 10:28:07 AM | Yes | Bloor and Windemere | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | The Bins are too high...the other bins with the advertising on the side blend in better | The Bins are too high...the other bins with the advertising on the side blend in better |
| 142 | 07/18/2005 02:26:36 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | “These signs represent the worst possible compromise between functionality (the curbside openings are too close to the curb, the sidewalk-side opening places the user in the flow of pedestrian traffic) and positioning (the diagonal placement of the signs means that the ‘footprint’ they occupy on the sidewalk is effectively an enourmous square...)” | No | “These signs and the current test of video screens in the subway, taken together, represent a very disturbing trend of thinking in the current council. I have yet to see a comprehensive and detailed third-party breakdown of the costs and revenues associated with the sidewalk signs, but I have for the subway video terminals. What I know of the sidewalk signs so far represents a similar picture:,- the real revenue gained is essentially insignificant compared to the city’s operating budget,- the high revenue potential and low risk to the private companies involved in maintaining these ‘services’ are grossly out of proportion to the those of the city,- these sorts of highly visible non-solutions to the city’s budget problems serve as a distraction from any kind of real public discussion of real solutions to the city’s budgetary issues,- one of the largest real costs to these projects -- impossible to quantify, of course -- is the demand on residents of this city to live in an environment increasingly populated by ‘loud’ advertising messages instead of more human, aesthetically-pleasing objects. Even a private-sector project like the construction of BCE Place (to pull an example out of a hat), left us with a contextually appropriate, aesthetically-pleasing addition to Toronto’s skyline; the advertising content of the building per se is relegated to a tiny ‘blip’ of a logo at the top, and most of the building’s bulk exists up and away from the sidewalks where people move about it. At ground level (and below) the building houses a large number of services of great utility to the resident and working populations in the area, and if I remember the blocks around it accurately, it has served to transform them into more pleasing and usable spaces.By contrast, the new signs _depend_ on their inappropriateness to and aesthectic disjunct with their surrounding (the better to attract attention), something like 80% of their surface area is dedicated to advertising, and they provide no service or benefit to local residents that doesn’t already exist, while being more obstrusive, more obstructive, and polluting, to boot (additional light pollution from the signs and the resources required to power the lights).Council’s responsiveness to private sector, self-serving salesmen offering incredibly parsimonious and more-or-less one-sided ‘deals’ causes me to question the motivations, competence, creativity and analytical skills of council.” | “Yes, I believe the fact that all city-published materials refer to these objects as “garbage/recycling bins” is a cynical and disingenuous sales pitch, trying to spin them as a positive thing for the public good rather than allow for a serious unprejudiced public consideration of their real value to the city and its residents. They are _signs_, first and foremost; the insertion of receptacles into their centres is simply a tactic to be gain permission to install them on public sidewalks.” |
| 143 | 07/18/2005 03:07:17 PM | No | pacific & dundas | No | Small garbage area | Yes | They impede pedestrian traffic and block store windows | No | The old style are fine- We don’t need the city competing with retailers for their window space. | Go back to old style- just make them work better |
| 144 | 07/18/2005 03:56:07 PM | Yes | Bloor & Windermere | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “too high, obstructs line of sight,,this is a safety issue in my opinion,,pedestrians crossing the street will not be,seen by cars” | No | [Blank] | “maximum height should be 3 feet,,they can be longer.” |
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| 145 | 07/18/2005 06:10:23 PM | Yes | dundas/pacific | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “This bin is blocking the window of a paint store, it is so big you cannot see into the store even walking along the sidewalk.” | No | It looks like the design is more towards advertising than garbage collection. The bin does not seem to hold much more than the regular bins throughout the city and they are always overflowing with garbage all the time. It seems that we are always being preached that reuse is the best way toward garbage managment and here we are getting new garbage cans and then tossing out the old ones. The best way would be to do modifications on the old cans that are throughout the city already. | “the city has way too much visual advertising and to add more would be a mistake. We cannot have the whole city looking like Dundas Square. Plus who pays for the electricity to light these garbage cans. It would seem we would be creating pollution when we create electrity to run a garbage colledtion system, that just does not seem like a logical path to take.” |
| 146 | 07/18/2005 11:56:38 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | dsads | dd |
| 147 | 07/19/2005 09:30:55 AM | Yes | SW corner of Keele & Lawrence | Yes | The openings for garbage and recyclables seem to be fairly well positioned and labeled. | Yes | If possible bins should be positioned parallel to the street length wise to allow for maximum use of both openings for pedestrians that are walking by. And it would also take up less sidewalk space as well. | Yes | [Blank] | Overall size of the new bins seems a little bit big (height in particular) and would occupy a considerable amount of sidewalk space especially when placed in the downtown core area where sidewalk space is at a premium. Also green sources of energy should be considered for illumination for the new bins so as not to add additional strain to our already well used power grid. |
| 148 | 07/19/2005 02:36:18 PM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | They directly block storefront views. | No | We get bombarded with advertising everyday and we don’t need another big display in our face. They block store fronts and look ugly. What will the city do with the revenue. Will the neighbourhoods in which these bins are located receive these funds directly as they should. | “If they are to be there at all, the advertising space should be used for local community groups and business for free or very cheap rates. My opinion is to trash the trash bins as fast as possible.” |
| 149 | 07/19/2005 04:12:50 PM | Yes | Dundas & Pacific (Keele) | No | Not user friendly – slots felt as though they were too high | Yes | “I personally feel they are obstructive & intrusive to our urban landscape. Although our tradtitional waste recepticals contain advertising it is less intrusive as it does not block ones view of the city. ,Presently the bins seem recessed from the sidewalk – if this was to rollout to across the city this may pose a potenial risk in terms of seeing pedestrians & children who may walk out from beside the bin” | No | “As a marketer I feel as though the new bins are visually intrusive – in all honesty they look more like a bus shelter than a waste bin. It’s a bit ironic if you think that as a city who is on one hand leading the global march in terms of conservation & recycling – I applaud our efforts with the blue/green box program. As a soceity obsesses with consumerism it seems wasteful that our waste bins have in your face ads promoting use to consume in excess even more products/services. Overall, they seem like a plague on our city that is presently under a cultural revolution.” | Please reconsider placing these bins as they would be a plague to our beautiful our garbage bins should be inconspicious and not so bold that they look like their on steriods. Please reconsider these bins they may look new and flashy but at the end of the day they are still a trash bin. |
| 150 | 07/19/2005 05:44:49 PM | Yes | dundas and pacific | No | like using an elephant to crush a cigarette butt ........ grossly oversized | No | they are wonderfully located if you prefer your business and window space blocked from view to the public on whom you would rely for business | No | the whole monstrosity is nothing but a billboard for advertising | “what in the hell is wrong with the existing cans ........... ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it ‘ the size of these things is an obsenity” |
| 151 | 07/19/2005 05:57:51 PM | Yes | NOt sure of exact location it was in the Annex area | No | “I am 5’2” I found the top to high and it took me a while to figure out where to put what.” | No | The bins are to big 7’x5’is oversized for a city street. It needs to be scaled down to fit within the confinds of the urban landscape. At that size it is a thin bus depot not a garbage can. I find the size constricts the view of the street. If a child darted out from behind one of these bins it would be disasterous. I am also curious how it will effect vehicle traffic with something that big it is going to impede the view of a driver. | No | It would be better if the city designed its own bins to fit in with the landscape that will also have the ability to sell space. Why does it always have to be commercial space. Perhaps it a non-profit community group would like to pay for the use of space to get their message out. It is time the city stopped selling its self to the highest bidder. | “The design of the bin in aesthetically unatractive. The hight of the bin would block the view of any business or residence located near the placement of these bins. The whole concept of the bin is to sell advertising/garbage use is secondary. It is time for the city to start thinking about quality of life for the residence of the city. Stop selling it to the highest bidder just to “make a buck” There are more creative ways to consider. Why doesn’t the Toronto Arts Council put out a bid for a design of a garbage can with the same peramiters the corporate bins were designed by. It would be more interesting, highlight local artists and I bet have more people putting their trash into that garbage can than an monolith to advertising.” |
| 152 | 07/19/2005 06:32:15 PM | Yes | Keele and St. Clair W. | No | garbage hole is large and enticing. unlikely anyone will bother figuring out where to put recyclables (for sure the smokers won’t use them). | No | I have only seen this one which is in a wide open space. I would not want to see these bins anywhere where pedestrians or cyclists are more common. | No | “cash grabbing is embarassing for Toronto, we can do better than this silly bin.” | too big; too tall; looks like a bus stop; appear more focused on advertising than waste collection; this type of blatant cash grabbing by the city is embarassing; rather see a short wide bin than a tall skinny one; |
| 153 | 07/19/2005 09:35:43 PM | Yes | Dundas West & Bloor | No | The slot for garbage was too small. My hand got caught in it and I was slightly bruised. | Yes | “When set at right angles to the road, they block too much of the already crowded sidewalk, over half. Because of their height they also block the view of the streetscape.” | No | No amount of revenue from the use of these horrible devices could compensate for how much they cheapen the apprearance of the city streets. | “Having huge obstructions covered in advertising blocking the sidewalk is an idea so gross and stupid I can’t understand why it’s even being considered. As a life long citizen of Toronto, and a property tax payer, please, I beg you, I beg you, do not use these ugly monsters. I’d rather pay a little more property taxes. What’s the use of money if I can’t enjoy walking down Bloor Street without having crass advertising shoved in my face and blocking my way. It’s bad enough the streetcars are covered in ugliness. Please spare us.” |
| 154 | 07/19/2005 10:15:28 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | haven’t used it | No | easy to see | Yes | “within reason, any commercial help to make recycling more benefitial is a good idea” | [Blank] |
| 155 | 07/19/2005 10:43:41 PM | Yes | Bathurst and College | No | “- instructions unclear (compared to silver cans), i.e. label type is small and labels not immediately adjacent to appropriate garbage openings,- openings too high: small children cannot reach upper openings” | Yes | “- placed sufficiently; however, initially thought it was an advertising board before realising it was a garbage can” | No | “- proposed garbage cans may promote blight: just because it’s free, that doesn’t mean it’s good,- the current silver cans are functional, elegant (oddly), and preferred by comparison. Couldn’t the silver cans be modified to contain more garbage volume AND advertising space (e.g. slightly higher/wider, larger openings)?” | “- upper openings are too high for small children, thereby discouraging proper/effective use or ecopreservation,- height and small breadth could pose toppling hazard,- more prone for vandalism: either graffiti or physical damage,- summarily, redesign/enhance design of current silver cans instead, and renegotiate arrangement,- alternatively, place garbage openings on both broad sides, occupying lower half of bin, arrange separate compartments horizontally can clearly labelled” |
| 156 | 07/20/2005 11:58:29 AM | Yes | Keele and Eglinton | Yes | “It was just as simple as any other garbage/recycling bin, but it was nice that it also had a spot for cigarete butts, which I find to be a hugr nuisence.” | Yes | “I find it rather convenient that the bin is located at the corner of the road, because it’s so easy to access.” | Yes | “Th city should follow through with any harmless means possible to support this project, because it aids in the maintenace of Toronto.” | [Blank] |
| 157 | 07/20/2005 01:19:35 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | “They are too close to the curb to make use of the street-side of the bin safe or practical. They extend too far across the sidewalk, impeding pedestrian traffic.” | No | “I am strongly opposed to the bins. The old OMG bins are bad enough, these are a monstrosity. As an eyesore, the bins run counter to the objectives of the city’s clean and beautiful program. As an obstacle on the sidewalk, they run counter to the objective of making the city more pedestrian-friendly. I would rather see my property taxes go up than see these on the street.” | We don’t need three months to test these bins. Get rid of them now. |
| 158 | 07/20/2005 02:41:04 PM | Yes | albion & finch | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Perfect | Yes | The city needs more garbage bins | The city should install more garbage containers |
| 159 | 07/20/2005 02:42:11 PM | Yes | Albion Rd | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | they are ok | Yes | the city needs more money | The city should install more garbage containers |
| 160 | 07/20/2005 02:45:21 PM | Yes | Bathurst & Sheppard | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | ok | Yes | why not? the city needs more bins | The city needs bins at all corners! |
| 161 | 07/20/2005 02:49:45 PM | Yes | Bloor & Winderemer | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Ok | Yes | The city needs the cash | The city should ask for more bins |
| 162 | 07/20/2005 02:50:47 PM | Yes | Bloor and Jane | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | perfect | Yes | [Blank] | No additional comments |
| 163 | 07/20/2005 04:30:29 PM | Yes | Lakeshore and 26th ave | Yes | extremely easy to use and clean too! | Yes | placed with pedestrian traffic in mind and not at all obtrusive | Yes | I think it’s a great deal for the City | [Blank] |
| 164 | 07/20/2005 05:01:40 PM | Yes | Bloor St. west of Dundas W. | No | I passed by this enormous thing for weeks before I even realized it was a garbage can. | Yes | I think they are ugly and in the way. | No | “The city should not let private companies dictate how our street can look, just because they give us free stuff. The look of city streets should serve public interest.” | “Aren’t we trying to be a “clean and beautiful” city? More advertising on the street, especially so large, goes completely against that idea.” |
| 165 | 07/21/2005 12:35:54 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | cost is an important factor regardless of who’s pocket the cheque comes from. consider the value of the proposed revenue vs. the need for more advertisment in the city. | “1.storage for cigarette filters is insightful and responsible, does it pass fire safety tests? 2. I think that 7 feet high is too tall. 3. advertising is brainwashing and can be a neighborhood eye sore. This modle might be better suited for busy areas.my contact info: Chris @ [redacted] [redacted],good luck with our infrastructure” |
| 166 | 07/21/2005 10:38:24 AM | No | [Blank] | No | “I think the garbage units are not going to be very useful unless you plan on having them emptied every “second” day although a wider unit would work much better posssibly even attached to ttc stops would be great.” | Yes | [Blank] | No | how would you like paying 2000 a month and the only spot someone can park and get something in their car is where the garbage bin is or an independant grocer has a chain store advertising right in front of his biz with a garbage bin he didn’t want in the first place. | design rewards programs for groups that participate in clean up days that should be quarterly and then monthly not once a year. |
| 167 | 07/21/2005 11:23:57 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & 26th | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “They are WAY too big...and ugly. They take up too much space, and are unsightly.” | Do we really need more large-scale advertising in the city?!?! These bins are terrible...the ones used currently are fine. Keep them. |
| 168 | 07/21/2005 11:53:49 AM | No | [Blank] | No | Too confusing. The part of the bin dedicated to garbage and recyclables seems be be dwarfed by the dedication to the advertising space. | Yes | “The two I have seen were at corners and placed at an angle. I think that this does not represent where they actually will be. In order for the advertising to be properly seen, I guess they will end up being placed perpendicular to the road, which renders one side of the garbage recepticle useless, as well as blocking the maximum of sidewald flow. As well, in the two examples I saw, I could not figure out how the garbage trucks would collect from them.” | No | “This seems to be all about advertising, and not at all about garbage. Every time we hear about our city’s budget woes, it seems someone comes up with a great idea that will give us money, but we have to sell our souls to the advertising industry to get what turns out to be very little money in the end. Since when did garbage collection have to be a revenue source? It should be part of what the city does with my tax dollars. If you measure how much in real dollars the city gets from such schemes against the visual pollution caused, I am left to wonder why we ever get mixed up in such things.” | “City provided services should not be sold to advertisers. Lately Howard Moscoe was quoted as saying “and it won’t cost us a cent!” when describing his proposal to have signs on street poles to inform riders when the next bus or streetcar is coming. Well, what it will cost us is the further pollution of our streets by advertising. We should not be sold so cheaply. In the big picture, given the size of the budget, we are getting very little money. How much would my property tax go up if we didn’t have to sell so much advertising space? I would expect very little.” |
| 169 | 07/21/2005 12:25:15 PM | No | Bloor and Runnymede | No | I didn’t use it as i object to it being placed on the sidewalk as it is so big and unsightly. | No | “They take up too much space and are too big, obtrusive and overwhelm the sidewalk streetscape.” | No | “There is too much advertising already in public spaces. We shouldn’t be selling our public spaces to private companies in this way. ,The bins are too big and obtrusive. Also, if private companies offer them, they will dictate where the bins will be positioned and located. They will want the bins in high-traffic visible areas, rather than where they are needed. A garbage bin is needed at the eastern exit of Keele subway station. There is no place to put garbage when people leave the subway and thus there is a lot of garbage on the ground at that subway entrance. However, companies might not deem that to be a high-visibility area. ,In any event, the current bins are much too big. It seems they are there to promote the advertisers more than to collect garbage.” | “Too much is being privatized in the public sector. The public sector should serve its constituents -- the public and work towards the public good, not on schemes that help advertisers. If projects benefit the public and business, then that is admissable, but the public’s interest should always be put first. And, in this case with the bins, because they are so large and obtrusive, the advertisers’ interests are being made a priority over the public good.” |
| 170 | 07/21/2005 12:36:16 PM | No | [Blank] | No | The openings appear too small and close together. | No | The size of these units makes them impossible to position them in any way as to make them appealing on any streetscape. | No | “No amount of revenue can convince me that these bins (or more accurately described as billboards)should be approved by council. Who’s interests are we helping? EUCAN, or the City? These bins are not well designed and do not serve the purpose for which they are intended.” | “Are these new installments ment to be garbage bins or a vehicle for advertsing? They completely disrupt public space and are not visually appealing. They are too large and very ugly. As a citizen of the city, I do not agree with any decision in favour of installing any more of these billboards.” |
| 171 | 07/21/2005 12:51:40 PM | Yes | Bloor and Windermere | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “I feel that the bin (Windermere and Bloor) takes up far too much room on a very busy pedestrian sidewalk. The bin looks like it is designed to catch the attention of passing cars with its advertising. On a busy intersection like Bloor and Windermere with many cyclist, pedestrians and autos, drivers don’t need more distractions.The Bin is far too big and does not fit in to the existing streetscape. the trash bin on the road side of the bin is much to close to the road making it hazardous to put trash in from that side.” | No | As I stated above the bins are far too big and do not fit in to the existing streetscape. | “make them smaller, especially in height. If the average person could see over them and they were not quite so wide they may be more acceptable.” |
| 172 | 07/21/2005 01:09:20 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | Yes | BUT seemed there was a very small amount of receptacle space compared to current standard ones | Yes | “They are way too huge/tall, they totally block the sightlines down the sidewalk, made worse by cutting into the sidewalk by being placed at an angle, and I feel they would make the street a more dangerous place at night. They appear to be predominantly advertising and NOT garbage or recycling bins, even in function. Often the current garbage cans are overflowing, what happens if you reduce the capacity?” | No | “They are too huge and put billboards right in the pedestrian line of sight, blocking the view of everything else and littering the neighbourhood with visual garbage. Roncesvalles Village, for example, like many other TO neighbourhoods, has done a lot to upgrade and make the street look good, this would TOTALLY UNDERMINE that effort.” | “The current ones have ads on them, without an in-your-face approach. If they increase the size of the recepticle for garbage and halved the height, it might work. AND althought the sign was not backlit, I hope there is no plan too do so, and that they do not use energy.” |
| 173 | 07/21/2005 01:27:26 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | “they are visually overpowering, ugly and a hinderance to pedestrian, cyclist, blader traffic” | No | “increased revenue does not justify selling off this city’s visual space, Toronto needs to get more beautiful by enhancing public space not by seeling it off to the first bidder” | “start small and low! Advertising is visual pollution and we have too much of it cluttering up public space already (Dundas Square); take a look at European cities and the value they put on preserving and enriching public spaces; look and learn, don’t sell” |
| 174 | 07/21/2005 01:31:04 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | n/a | Yes | n/a | No | “I am vehemently opposed this option. We are already inundated with advertising everywhere the eye can see. These larger bins seriously obstruct the view and are, quite frankly, onboixious. Blocked views, especially in areas over the height of an average person also create potential security issues. The City can certainly find better was to manage its resources than depending on Faustian deals with corporations.” | “They should only be resorted to should our new tourism campaign feature the tagline “Toronto the Trashy.”” |
| 175 | 07/21/2005 01:47:08 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “Can’t quite tell the size of the openings that collect recyclables from the small picture. My good guess is they may be too high for children under 4’, and inconvient to people on wheelchairs. The height of structure is too tall. It will be hiding the drivers’ views of the streets. In time when they get filthy, the streets will look very unsightly especially in tourist areas. What do you plan to do when the bins got filled with snow?” | No | Never near any street corners. It’s very dangerous for they will block the drivers’ view when they turn the street corners. They are not pleasant looking. They take up so much space while the actual size for the recyclables is so small. | Yes | Only when the structure is improved for look and functions. That means re-design the openings. I do not think the shapes are pleasant looking. | [Blank] |
| 176 | 07/21/2005 02:03:21 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | too much visual clutter alreday – we don’t need more ads in this city | No | “more visual noise,too much about consuming more” | leave the old ones |
| 177 | 07/21/2005 02:12:20 PM | Yes | Jane and Bloor | No | The signage is not explicite enough | Yes | “I think they are a roadway hazard. When driving west bound on Bloor, a pedestrian stepped out to cross(not at the pedestrian crossing) from behind the garbage bin and because of the bin’s excessive height I had no warning that the pedestrian was even there. It was a very close miss that would not have likely happened had the garbage bin been shorter then the average height of a person.” | No | I think the excessive height of the bins creates a roadway hazard because the bin blocks the drivers view of the pedestrians on the other side of the bin. | [Blank] |
| 178 | 07/21/2005 05:42:12 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | “Too big for a garbage can, they block sidewalks for pedestrians/strollers/disabled, especially once the snow comes. The ones on corners (Main and Danforth) block drivers’ view around the corner and could lead to accidents. By being across the sidewalk they are very much a barrier to pedestrian traffic and neighbourhood development.Once the snow comes they will be in the way of snow removal and cause drifts – we already have issues on street corners with piles of snow and these will make it worse.” | No | “They are too big, and the city already has lots of advertising space available on transit shelters that offer a much more important service to the city. We do not need more ads on the street and the city gets revenue from the bus shelters.” | Advertisers should not be keen to associate their ads with garbage containers so the may be hard to sell. |
| 179 | 07/21/2005 07:31:25 PM | Yes | danforth near broadview somewhere | No | “the old bins are by far more clearly labelled and easy to use. the old ones are at a better height for children and people in wheelchairs.the fact that they are so high means that if a pedestrian wanders behind it and then into the street, a cyclist or motorist is less likely to see them. if the bin were shorter than a person, this problem would not exist.” | Yes | “the full rollout of the project will add thousands of light bulbs to the power grid, adding to the strain. But more importantly, the City is setting a bad example about conservation. After all, these lights aren’t serving any purpose except to illuminate the ads! Aren’t we supposed to be turning off non-essential devices?” | No | “Clearly the City of Toronto is more interested in meeting the needs of advertising companies rather than setting an example to reduce energy use. I see no reason why these new bins are any better than the old ones. You say that it won’t cost anything to the city to put them up, but it already doesn’t cost anything to keep the ones we have – the ones that are safer for pedestrians, more accessible, easier to use, and generally less obnoxious.” | “one word.obnoxious.i’m an environmentalist, and i’d still rather litter than use these monsters. i promise to deface as many giant garbage-can-monster-ads as i see if these bins make it onto the streets.” |
| 180 | 07/21/2005 08:52:03 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | I can’t find the words to descibe these things. They are just ridiculous. Who in his right mind would think that we want them. They are nothing but billboards which totally destroy the street scape. | No | If the councillors need extra spending money they should consider getting a part time job. Didn’t they learn anything from the previous so called (OMG advertising sponsored) recycling project. | Just make them disappear very quickly and I will pretend it never happened. |
| 181 | 07/21/2005 10:55:20 PM | Yes | Danforth and Main | No | “Much too high, my kids would have to reach up to use the garbage can.” | Yes | “They disrupt the flow of traffic, seeing as they block a significant portion of the sidewalk.” | No | “Big and obtrusive. I can’t imagine that the revenue is great enough to warrant such a blight on our sidewalks. Things can be done without advertising money, we just need to be more creative. I would rather pay a ‘garbage tax’ yearly than have to deal with ugly monoliths placed smack in the middle of the flow of pedestrians. If we have to have them, then how about if they had another use, like 25% of them would be used for community awareness space. For local plays, school events, or just having nice art showing in them. Maps of the city. Tourist information. Also, I wonder where the ‘revenue’ is going towards, maybe it would be easier to swallow if it had a cause that I could then support – ‘All revenue from these ads will go towards cleaning up the the Don river’. How about putting the money towards buying these cans back from eucan and using them for our own public awareness ads?” | “The garbage part (as small as it is), and apart from its height seems to have had some thought put into it. Much better than the current less obtrusive boxes. Which still work fine, don’t they? I don’t know if these new ones are always placed directly across the flow of traffic, but maybe placing them along traffic lines would also help – and make the dual garbage entry more useful.” |
| 182 | 07/22/2005 10:21:06 AM | Yes | Bloor & Christie | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | The bin is somewhat obstructing the sidewalk in this location. It would make more sense if the broadside was parallel to the sidewalk. | No | “There is currently enough advertising in public space in the city. The ads on the new bins are gigantic. I would approve of the adspace being used for city and public health campaigns, but not for commercial advertisement.” | “The inclusion of ashtrays for cigarette butts is a good idea. A lot of public education must accompany this to get cigarette butts out of the environment.In general the bins are way to large for the purpose they serve. The older lower profile bins are less obstructing to vision.” |
| 183 | 07/22/2005 01:24:57 PM | Yes | Bloor and Christie | No | [Blank] | Yes | Stop referring to them as garbage/recylcing bins.The fact the these monstrosities might contain garbage bins is beside the point. The are vehicles for adveristing first and foremost. They have no place on the sidewalks of Toronto. | No | Only those who those who thought that those hideous OMG bins were a good idea would approve of these bins. Is the City of Toronto so hard up that it that it has become such an easy mark for any quick-buck artist that comes along? The major expenses (i.e. emptying the receptacles) are going to be borne by the city. Is anything all right as long as the city receives a bit of revenue from it? | I have no additional comments more appropriate than those voiced by Christopher Hume in his column in the Toronto Star of 21 July 2005. City Councillors would be well-advised to read it. |
| 184 | 07/22/2005 10:50:52 PM | Yes | Bloor West & Jane | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Only one end is usable. The other end can only be used by stepping out on the street. | Yes | [Blank] | “They are too big for most locations. They are ,another example of a poorly run publicly financed project.” |
| 185 | 07/22/2005 11:48:20 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “Frankly, I’m glad I haven’t come across one yet, but I can’t see how they would not be an impediment to clear sight lines for both traffic and pedestrians. About the only place I think they would tolerable is built into existing structures already the same size or larger, such as the bus shelters (although I seem to remember some controversy re. the existing bus shelter ads blocking sight such that someone stepping out was hit).” | No | “Even though there’s plenty of it already, city space for sale smacks of desperation and diminishes any image of ‘class’ for this city. I can understand how we find ourselves in this situation, though. I think Mayor Miller has to keep hammering the province (and in turn McGuinty the feds – it’s all about unreasonable downloading of responsibilities that should be provincial if not federal).” | “There’s got to be alternatives. Even those obnoxious advertisement bus paint jobs are better than this. Frankly, I’m surprised these boxes don’t get vandalized as soon as they’re erected.” |
| 186 | 07/23/2005 08:52:51 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | Not applicable | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | Please – Nothing is for free!!! There’s a hidden cost somewhere. | “Was this proposal initiated by the city or the current contractor?,Has the City actually gone out to tender?,The city has a responsibilty to provide taxpayers with the name of the company providing the proposal. Please post on this website.Thanks” |
| 187 | 07/23/2005 09:39:30 AM | Yes | I saw the one at College and Bathurst. | [Blank] | “I examined the bin, but didn’t actually use it. The recycling slot seems too high to be really comfortable to use. I think it has been placed where it is primarily to help justify the height of the unit, which is nothing more than yet another billboard, except right in the middle of the sidewalk.” | Yes | “They are an obstruction, both in the sense that they block pedestrian traffic, and visually, because they block my view even though I am six feet tall. If this is an attempt to make Toronto a better place and not simply a blatant grab for advertising money, then please *at least* turn them 90 degrees so that they are parallel to the sidewalk instead of jutting out into it, and push them up against a wall so they’re not in the way. ,I know that this won’t happen though, because it would mean only one side of the two-sided billboard is visible, which would cut in half the advertising revenue, which is what this is obviously all about.” | No | “Advertising is *not* free money. You are selling off one more slice of the pleasantness of Toronto. A little more ugly, distracting crass commercial clutter... in exchange for a few advertising dollars. Personally, I’d rather pay the taxes I currently ,On the other hand, if you are convinced that selling out Toronto’s public space in this way is a good way to get money, then I have an idea for you: City Hall itself is located in a high-traffic area, and is quite a large, highly-visible surface. Why not sell advertising space on it, and paint it up with ads for beer and video games and cell phones? I really think you could raise a lot of ad money with that sale.” | “The thing about these “garbage/recycling bins” that particularly galls me is that they will consume electricity to light up the panels on both sides. While we are all being urged to cut back on our power consumption to avoid brown-outs in the summer and to simply reduce pollution at any time of the year, the city is proposing installing 1500 of these bins which together will consume as much electricity as a small town, 24/7. ,You can’t say no to these bins because they are being installed for *free* (by the company who is going to be collecting most of the advertising revenues from them), right? And you can’t say no to these bins because they are for *recycling*, and recycling is *good*, right? But it is such an obvious attempt to smuggle yet another wave of advertising into the city under the guise of recycling and of saving a few dollars in the short-term.Please make us proud... say no to these horrible monstrosities, and get them off of our streets. Pay a little money to purchase some well-designed, unobtrusive recycling/garbage bins-- they can’t be that expensive. ,Please don’t sell us out.” |
| 188 | 07/23/2005 10:35:32 AM | Yes | Bloor/Christie. | Yes | The directions were clear. | Yes | The one at Bloor and Christie is turned so that one of the ends is facing the street. No one is going to use that side. They should be placed parallel to the streets so both ends will be used. | No | Getting the bins for free is nice but they are basically the equivelent of slapping huge billboards all over the sidewalk. The ideal situation would be an even split between ad space and space to put itmes. Right now it feels like it’s 80/20 in favour of the ads. Getting them for free is nice but the most important thing is if people will use them. It’s also important to take into account how they affect the look of the city. The current ones are difficult to use due to the flaps covering the holes but they are fairly subtle. The new models are obnoxious and an eyesore. | “They are way too big. Too much ad space. Too difficult to use. You want something that will make a teenager toss his or her litter with the minimum amount of effort. Not something where they will have to walk to the side, choose the correct slot, and push their item inside.” |
| 189 | 07/23/2005 11:28:55 AM | Yes | Danforth & Pape | Yes | What? It’s a huge billboard with a small garbage can on the side. What’s hard to understand? | Yes | OK. The billboards are highly visible. Too bad the garbage cans are so small. | No | It’s an eyesore. Billboards all along the streets. Two within one block (Danforth at Pape & 1 west of Pape). Too many. Next the stores will be putting up larger signs to compete with the garbage cans.... | “Garbage cans are too small. The pair on Danforth were just installed on Thursday, and they’re already filled past the top on Saturday.” |
| 190 | 07/23/2005 12:21:54 PM | Yes | danforth and playter | No | actually it was already full | Yes | “I think they present a danger,in young drivers we are taught about MELT,looking ahead to determine what is happenning before you encounter it.these vertical plinths are visually obstructive to viewing what is happenning ahead both ont he sidewalk and on the street.” | No | this would be a gross denial of obvious safety issues. | “as additional advertising surface I think they provide unnecessary visual noise while obstructing the view of the unique areas of toronto, blocking visual detection of moving objects vehicles and persons, and are less efficient than existing refuse recepticles” |
| 191 | 07/23/2005 05:03:32 PM | Yes | bloor st west near jane | No | it was full already. the amount of room for the garbage is far too small | Yes | they take up far too much space on the sidewalk. they also block the view of the store fronts.in short they ‘uglify’ the city. | No | NO! these things are awful! i’m sure the city could find more creative methods for revenues. i’m even in awe that the city would consider this. | please please no! we see enough advertising everywhere we look. these new designs are totally billboards in a garbage cans clothing. no one will be fooled. |
| 192 | 07/23/2005 05:47:08 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | Ads on the garbage cans are ridiculous. Lights stay on all the time wasting energy and money. | Yes | fine | No | It’s a waste of electricity. | At a time when we are trying to conserve energy to roll out the energy wasting garbage bins is ridiculous. Why not just use regular garbage cans with ads if you really have to have ads on them. You know they will get destroyed eventually. Jammers will tag them and bust out the lights... that’s a shame. |
| 193 | 07/23/2005 05:50:50 PM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “the city should ask more money, and pay each citizen for this” | [Blank] |
| 194 | 07/23/2005 06:59:25 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | They openings are on the narrow end. That’s completely counterintuitive. | Yes | They’re too wide and impede traffic. | No | We get enough consumerism from other outlets...we don’t need to bombard the public with more advertisments by using these cans. | They’re lit up like a sodding Christmas tree. How is that at all environmentally friendly? |
| 195 | 07/23/2005 11:09:34 PM | Yes | Bloor & Christie | No | “The opening for the waste container is obscured by the advertising, unless you are facing the narrow side of the unit. Design for functionality! The garbage opening should be wider.” | Yes | The garbage openings should be inline with pedestrian traffic -- but I imagine that the private company that is managing the ad sales would be opposed to this. The City’s needs should never be so blatantly subservient to a corporation. | No | “Based upon the current design (size, proportion of the garbage opening side as compared to the advertising side), I am firmly opposed to the installation of these units.The implied benefit of a device that collects garbage + cigarette butts + recyclables is irrelevant, because this functionality can easily be built into a unit that is designed for functionality and aesthetic appeal, while still providing for valuable advertising space.However, I understand that the City is interested in decreasing taxpayer burden by seeking ‘creative’ funding, while at the same time cutting back on costs. Nonetheless, I suggest that it is possible to achieve this without offending citizens such as myself.” | “Redesign the unit. Put this out to RFP, with very clear requirements on designing for functionality and aesthetic appeal.Bear in mind that we shouldn’t be pimping out our public space unless we know we’re getting a deal that is a true win-win.” |
| 196 | 07/23/2005 11:56:30 PM | Yes | dundas/ossington | No | “as the openings are on either end of the bin, and one of those ends faces the street, half of the openings are rendered useless to the user. UNLESS the idea is to have drive-by garbage cans, which would bring on such a slew of disastrous accidents that it is inconceivable that someone would actually design it to be that way.” | Yes | “absolutely terrible. not only do they cut into already minimal sidewalk space, but they also obscure the pedestrians’ view of oncoming traffic. As well, the driver’s awareness of pedestrians will now be further reduced.” | No | “public space should not be for sale to advertisers, especially at the risk of health and safety to the city’s citizens.” | “They are poorly designed, illogically placed, blatant symbols of commercialsm and greed that have nothing to do with Mayor Miller’s “beautiful city.” There is absolutely NO reason for the bins to be 7 feet tall. I would rather see the streets littered with garbage than look at these advertising bins every day. BAD IDEA TORONTO!!” |
| 197 | 07/24/2005 12:09:47 AM | Yes | Ossington & Dundas | No | Garbage cans should not require instructions. | No | “I think there are better ways of generating revenue. I suspect they will end up like the current ones, with people just throwing cans in with the garbage etc.” | No opinion | I don’t know enough about what other revenue sources were investigated. I’m sure there are other creative ways of selling advertising space. Recycling and garbage disposal should be more intuitive. | [Blank] |
| 198 | 07/24/2005 12:38:36 AM | Yes | DANFORTH&PAPE | No | “THE OPENINGS ARE TOO SMALL SO GARBAGE WAS STUCK IN THE OPENING AND STREWN ON THE GROUND,NOT VERY ATRACTIVE , AT BOTH BINS ON THE DANFORTH.” | Yes | THE OPENING FACING THE ROAD MUST BE FOR DRIVE BY GARBAGE DISPOSAL BECAUSE WHO IN HIS RIGHT MIND WOULD STEP OFF THE CURB TO DEPOSIT GARBAGE? | No | “I AM TOTALLY AGAINST THESE UNSIGHTLY GARBAGE TOWERS, I THINK THE CURRENT STAINLESS STEEL CONTAINERS ARE THE BEST SOLUTION,MODERN, USEFUL AND UNOBSTRUSIVE” | HAD THERE BEEN ADVERTISING ON THE TOWERS I SAW TONIGHT I WOULD NEVER USE OR PURCHASE THE PRODUCT BEING ADVERTISED... |
| 199 | 07/24/2005 12:57:18 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | But due to the location on the sidewalk it is only practicle to use one side of the unit. | Yes | “When place perpendicular to the road, they take up too much space on the sidewalk (changes the amount of useable sidewalk).” | No | “It’s not worth it to get a couple of million dollars for the increase in ads. Will the addition of these cans not create more billboard space, or will billboards on bus shelters be removed? I would suspect that TTC ad revenue would drop due to the increased competition to get advertisers.” | End the pilot project and keep the current omg waist high bins. They are less obtrusive to pedistrians and have all of the same if not more functionality. |
| 200 | 07/24/2005 02:22:22 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “Our city is plastered with enough advertising; billboards, bus stops, even our elevators and bathrooms. Please, don’t make it worse.” | [Blank] |
| 201 | 07/24/2005 08:26:04 AM | Yes | Danforth near Broadview | No | “I hate the flaps that force you to touch disgusting filthy flaps as you try and push a piece of garbage into the unit. Access from the street side is difficult if cars are parked at the curb. By the way, the garbage bin part was overflowing with garbage, so either the capacity was undersized or the City is failing to empty these on a timely basis. It wasn’t a good experience.” | Yes | They take up too much space on the side walk. Its a garbage can for god’s sake! | No | “The last thing the city needs is more advertising on the city sidewalks. These units are intrusive and detract from the experience of enjoying a walk down a city street. Like the huge number of newspaper boxes on every corner, these units make our sidewalks look like junk yards. If a city like Toronto can not find a way to pick up garbage without having to rely on something like this, then there is something terrribly, terribly wrong with the way this city is run. Moreover, if you think that these will not become targets for postering and grafiti you are mistaken. I’m sure in no time these will be covered in posters and will thus become even more of an eyesore than they are already.” | “If we now no longer are required to separate our recyclables at home, why is a unit like this even necessary? Please, give me an old fashioned, open toped, wire basket garbage can (like Toronto has in its parks) any day over this and its stainless steel predecesor. But please, don’t adopt this monstrosity.” |
| 202 | 07/24/2005 10:15:32 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | “Though I like the fact that these bins rob pedestrians of less sidewalk space then the previous ones (smaller footprint), I fear that they will interfere with being able to see cars and traffic near crosswalks, and if placed closer to buildings, they will block our enjoyment of our architecture. They seem too tall and wide.” | Yes | “Though I agree the city needs advertising revenue, I would like to see one side of these units designated for those horrible posters that are rampant in this city. If the city can’t completely prohibit this horrible “vertical litter” on our public property, perhaps the “freedom of speech” advocates would be satisfied with a designated postering surface on these new bins – in addition to a complete prohibition everywhere else. I would also like to see Toronto follow the example of Montreal and use some of these new advertising panels for a map of the city or area.” | “You have spelled “cigarettes” incorrectly on the narrow sides of the new bins. I can’t believe the City of Toronto would go to the trouble of producing test bins without having someone proofread your copy. The incorrect word is spelled “cigarretes”.Also, the flat tops of the units is bad design. This will provide a great place for adults to leave their coffee cups and tall teens to leave their soda cans, creating more litter when they fall to the sidewalk when hit by a breeze. It’s also a great place for birds to sit and deposit their waste. You need to provide a steeply-sloped top to these units to prevent more littering and some needles to keep the birds away.” |
| 203 | 07/24/2005 12:14:25 PM | No | Dundas and Ossington | No | [Blank] | No | this bin looked ridiculous not to mention unsafe. The bin was way too big and blocked the view. | No | do we really need to sell out like this? Put in nice bins and people will feel good about using them. A bin like this one is just asking to be vandalized. | “please do not use this bin design. it is too big, ugly, and unsafe.” |
| 204 | 07/24/2005 01:44:49 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “no – garbage container too small, unsafe on road side and recycling areas not clear.” | Yes | “Unsafe positioning, too large and contaminates public space.” | No | Pollution of public space and unsafe position of bins and too large!!!! | Yes – scrap the whole deal and use public funded bins! |
| 205 | 07/24/2005 02:35:33 PM | No | It was already overflowing. | No | “The actual space for garbage is relatively small compared to the size of the “Bill Board”.” | Yes | They block the sidewalk. Thery block the view. Bins positioned on street corners require pedestrian traffic to walk around them to corss the street. THEY ARE URBAN BLIGHT... a HUGE EYESORE. | No | “See above: THEY ARE URBAN BLIGHT... a HUGE EYESORE. NOTHING in this city is designed with beauty in mind. My main neighbourhood street, the Danforth between Broadview and Pape, is already a disgusting mish-mash of lamp post, garbage, tree box, flower planter, bycycle stand, sign post styles.” | “Get rid of them. They are huge, monstrous eyesores. The actual space for garbage is relatively small compared to the size of the “Bill Board”.... one near me is already overflowing onto the street.(West of Bowden on the Danforth)” |
| 206 | 07/24/2005 02:47:07 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | Have to stand in the street to use one end. | Yes | “Even though they are smaller on the ground than the old bins, they take up more pedestrian space because of the way they stick out in the sidewalk.” | No | These things are terrible! They really take up a lot of airspace so I can’t see past them to see across the street or to see the stores. | Why so tall? Would be better to have them same size but horizontal. |
| 207 | 07/24/2005 02:54:36 PM | No | Howard Park and Roncesvalles | No | [Blank] | No | I hate this! It is monstrously huge for a pedestrian neighbourhood. You can’t position them any way that will allow for use and to reduce the visual blocking. | No | ABSOLUTELY NOT! These are evil! | I saw a piece on Discovery Channel’s Daily Planet about solar-powered trash bins that are also compactors. This seems like a much more reasonable solution. |
| 208 | 07/24/2005 03:14:25 PM | Yes | Christie & Bloor | No | Rain/snow will collect in the open garbage container. People will flick cigarette butts into the butt container and MISS. They’ll land in the garbage and start a fire. | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Sure, but with the existing orinentation so its less ugly.” | The existing bins are OK they just need some tweaks. Eg a way to deposit litter/cans without touching the dirty lid. |
| 209 | 07/24/2005 03:36:51 PM | Yes | College – Spadina-ish | Yes | [Blank] | No | Take up too much space relative to value (only half the cubic footage of the bins are usefule – the other half clutters up sightlines). | No | “The only two ways I would be in favour of these:,1. if they are merged into an existing sightline impediment – eg if they were sandwiched between bus shelter posters or up against walls,2. if they were half the height (with same sized footprint)” | “They are ugly, not practical (re: cubic feet + sightlines), and create more visual pollution.” |
| 210 | 07/24/2005 04:43:31 PM | Yes | bloor christie | Yes | “the combination newspaper/can+bottle opening was not obvious, but the instructions were clear once I had stopped and read them.” | No | “Obstructive, was my first reaction. But with that size bin, I’m unable suggest a better position. It is simply of obstructive proportions” | No | “The size of advertizing space is much too big. Advertizing is big buisness, big money. These bins cannot be worth the price of advertizing space on them. It’s a bad deal, we’re getting ripped off.” | “reduce the bins to 5 feet, it seems that the bins functionality only uses 5 feet and the 2 or 3 top feet are used only for advertisement. cut it down to a 5 foot structure, and you’ll have my vote.” |
| 211 | 07/24/2005 06:10:08 PM | Yes | “Danforth, east of Broadview” | No | “It was very unclear what was to go where. However, of more concern is the size of the garbage cans: the garbage cans were overflowing by mid-day on Saturday, so there was no room for anymore garbage. Later in the afternoon, garbage was all over the sidewalk, as coffee cups, etc. fell out due to the size of the actual garbage container – these “bins” are ridiculously misproportioned! Lots of sidewalk taken up, but no room for garbage.” | Yes | “They are enormous and imposing, they take up too much room on the sidewalk. The Danforth is a very busy pedestrian area, and losing that much sidewalk for a tiny little garbage container is an entirely unreasonable tradeoff.” | No | “Although I don’t like it, it is not the advertising per se that has me opposed to these bins; rather, it is the complete lack of proportion – they can’t handle the garbage in their tiny bins, but impose this enormous structure on the landscape.” | “I don’t think we should permanently install these bins, and in fact, given the amount of garbage on the ground by late afternoon on Saturday (i.e. by 4:00 p.m.) I think we should remove them quickly – and replace them with properly sized garbage cans.” |
| 212 | 07/24/2005 07:55:54 PM | Yes | Danforth Ave and Main street | No | “The garbage was jammed and overflowing; bin is placed perpendicular to the curb, making half of the bin inaccessible and dangerous.” | Yes | “Horrible. Blocks the entire sidewalk. Creates a blind spot for motorists near a major intersection, greatly increasing the hazards to pedestrians and mocking the “We’re All Pedestrians” awareness campaign. They are too tall to see over, creating a serious safety issue for people walking past, as there’s no way of knowing who or what may be on the other side -- perhaps a mugger or an out-of-control kid on a bike. Additionally, their width blocks the entire sidewalk, and is a severe eyesore.” | No | “No. Toronto wants to be world-class, and these are an offense to the city and its people. Main and Danforth isn’t a pretty intersection, but nothing about this new bin helps it.” | “The city wants to restrict postering on hydro poles. These are an order of magnitude worse -- and I can’t even begin to imagine how these will be treated downtown. Postering, graffiti, and vandalism may actually make these even uglier, dangerous, and offensive than they were designed to be. No amount of advertising money is worth this.” |
| 213 | 07/24/2005 09:00:38 PM | Yes | Howard Park & Roncesvalles | Yes | “Easy to reach, and decent-sized openings, but having openings on two sized of the box are ridiculous. Openings should all be on one side only.” | Yes | “Awful positioning – it blocks the flow of people on the sidewalk, and doesn’t make it easy to throw things away.” | No | “I am completely against the bins – the advertising money isn’t worth the fact that they are ugly and the city is already covered in ads. The positioning is also a pain for people on the sidewalks and more so ads can be viewed easily, rather than so people can use the bins.” | “The current bins shape/size would be fine, as long as they were made a little longer to accomodate cigarette butts.” |
| 214 | 07/24/2005 11:43:26 PM | Yes | Main st. and Danforth | Yes | yes. it was easy | No | Right now it was facing Danforth I think the person has to stand near the road (where there is traffic) to use this bin. | Yes | Atleast there will be one thing in Toronto that will not suck hard earned money or blood from users. | Install vending machine for garbage bags. Like insert coins and get garbage bags of your choice. |
| 215 | 07/25/2005 12:04:54 AM | No | [Blank] | No | “I examined the bin, but didn’t actually use it. The recycling slot seems,too high to be really comfortable to use. I think it has been placed as,high as it is primarily to help justify the height of the unit, which is,nothing more than yet another billboard, except right in the middle of the,sidewalk.” | Yes | “They are an obstruction, both in the sense that they block pedestrian,traffic, and visually, because they block the view even though I am a tall,person. If this is an attempt to make Toronto a better place and not simply,a blatant grab for advertising money, then please *at least* turn them 90,degrees so that they are parallel to the sidewalk instead of jutting out,into it, and push them up against a wall so they’re not in the way. ,I know that this won’t happen though, because it would mean only one side of,the two-sided billboard is visible, which would cut in half the advertising,revenue, which is what this is obviously all about.” | No opinion | “Go back to the drawing board. The design appears to be heavily slanted in favour of “advertising” and weakly oriented toward it’s functional “intended” use of recycling. Bins may be “free” but it is a fraction of the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The current design is far less obtrusive and still provides advertising revenues that will help to offset the collection costs. The current design simply needs larger openings and less stiff flaps (I always get my hand caught on the filthy flap as I am trying to place recycling materials in the receptical.” | “The thing about these “garbage/recycling bins” that particularly galls me is,that they will consume electricity to light up the panels on both sides.While we are all being urged to cut back on our power consumption to avoid,brown-outs in the summer and to simply reduce pollution at any time of the,year, the city is proposing installing 1500 of these bins. The city should be promoting a “Green” policy when attempting to solve it’s “green” problems!” |
| 216 | 07/25/2005 02:01:53 AM | No | [Blank] | No | It was confusing. | No | [Blank] | No | “These are more billboards than they are garbage cans. Remove the advertising, and you might have a good bin.” | [Blank] |
| 217 | 07/25/2005 05:04:21 AM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | The original items were just fine. | Yes | “They are a complete waste of money. Why did you do this? Are you embarrassed? They’re ugly, they waste electricity and you should feel shame for having sold out to a bunch of advertisers rather than people who want to keep the city beautiful!” | No | I have my doubts as to how much incremental revenue you would eventually receive. | “Don’t use them. They’re a waste of money. You been sold a bunch of “magic beans” that will only grow into weeds.” |
| 218 | 07/25/2005 06:59:23 AM | Yes | College & ?? | No | didn’t realize it was a garbage can at first | No | “they are monolithic and impede sightlines; I’m not fond of anything weirdos can lurk behind at night, either” | No | “just replacing one type of pollution (litter) with another (visual pollution). I’m sick to death of every bloody thing (streetcars, taxi hubcaps, the sidewalk...) having ads on it. Please – give us some visual tranquility, a bit of calm, uncluttered white-space” | “why can’t we just have plain old garbage/recycling cans? Nothing fancy, nothing multipurpose, just plain. As for maintenance, etc. costs, surely this can be some youth program, or rehab/sheltered job, or something (or does unionization interfere with this?).” |
| 219 | 07/25/2005 08:43:39 AM | Yes | Pape and danforth | No | “When I first saw the bins I thought it was a billboard. The set up of the bins on either side is not practical, there is too much going on with those bins. I felt like I had to read instruction in order use the bin.” | Yes | “They take up too much space and block a good portion of the side walk. They do not blend into the neighbourhood, rather they stick out like a sore thumb.” | No | “I think that they are impractical and quite frankly an eye sore. They take up too much space on the side walk and the bins were already over flowing with garbage this past Friday! It appears you have taken the simple act of throwing out garbage and made it into a sience project. There is too much going on and too may recepticles that are too small. Why would I sit and read where I have to throw my garbage? The bins that were there before were easy and efficient look at the picture and throw your waste in the appropriate recepticle. They new recepticles may be free but they are too big in height, take up too much room on the side walk, are ugly and inefficient. Also, I saw where the cigarette deposits are and really why would someone stop and butt out there? If it were positioned lower and in a more obvious spot then perhaps it would be more practical,” | My suggestion is to reconsider these bins. They appear to be geared more toward advertising than to collecting garbage. Free or not they make the neigbourhood look ugly and they do not serve the purpose of holding garbage as they fill up too quickly and in the end the trash ends up on the side walk anyway. |
| 220 | 07/25/2005 09:23:08 AM | Yes | BLOOR & CHRISTIE | No | [Blank] | Yes | OBSTRUCTIVE EYE SORES | No | THE OPTICAL ASSAULT OF ADVERTISING IS ALREADY TOO OVERWELLMING | “STOP THEM. THESE ARE BILLBOARDS,NOT MUCH MORE.THEIR SIZE IS WAY TOO BIG AND DISRUPTS THE CITY SCAPE.THEY ARE NOTHING MORE THEN A P.C. ATTEMPT TO SHOVE ADVERTISING DOWN OUR THROATS . I DONT APPRECIATE THIS WHEN ITS IN MY FACE WHILE TRYING TO RELAX IN A PARK.KINDLY HALT THIS PROGRAM” |
| 221 | 07/25/2005 09:39:38 AM | Yes | Danforth / Coxwell | No | The garbage container is far too small and was stuffed to overflowing. They seem very poorly designed and primarily for advertising purposes rather than garbage disposal which is clearly a secondary consideration. | Yes | While overall positioning is fine they do add to a feeling of being forced of the sidewalk. There size and location is designed to maximize advertising visibiliy with little regard to the negative implications for pedestrians and the feeling they impart to an already challenged streetscape. | No opinion | They are poorly designed not providing for adequate garbage or recylcling areas. Further they are frankly quite ugly and do not complement an attractive street scape. While they may look just fine outside of a strip mall or big box environement that is not something that we should rush to emulate in the city of Toronto proper. Overall they are garish and beign bombarded by more advertising is never something that I look forward to. | “Quite frankly the containers are terrible and the price, and they are free, is far to high given the negative impact that they have on the streetscape. I do not think that they promote a vibrant and healty down town.” |
| 222 | 07/25/2005 09:40:36 AM | Yes | yonge st | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Looks UGLY | No | Not worth it! There’s enough advertising in the city already – maybe force the ad companies to clean up the trash too? | They belong IN the trash |
| 223 | 07/25/2005 10:25:41 AM | Yes | Finch & Kennedy | No | “There was no indication of which compartment was for what items. I had to look around before realizing where the instruction were. The openings should be colour coded, or have a symbol right next to it.” | Yes | “At first glance, it is an advertisment opportunity first and a recycling/trash bin second. If i needed to throw something away, and I saw that thing, i wouldnt know to go to it... It’s big and bulky and blocks views for cars and pedestrians at the intersection” | No | “The city of toronto is trying to beautify the city, and these eucan garbage cans totally go against it. They are ugly, not practical, and clutter up the public realm. It’s a matter of Cost/Benefit. The city will gain money from these bins, but in return ruin the public realm/ streets. Is that worth it? Is that what the City Beautification of Toronto is about? I surely hope not...” | “Installing these garbage/recycling bins only tells people that Toronto only cares about money, and doesnt care about its citizens or the space they use.” |
| 224 | 07/25/2005 10:26:57 AM | Yes | Bloor east of Keele | No | All I could see was advertising... | Yes | “Hideous and repulsive, like a giant alien monolith dropped like a piece of poop from the sky.” | No | “Disgusting and evil, people could hide behind it, repulsive, stupid and crass. A waste of space and air.” | “Destroy them all. ,Give us nomrmal trash cans.” |
| 225 | 07/25/2005 10:52:58 AM | No | saw it at Bloor & Christie but did not use | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | the size will stop you in your tracks but i’m not sure people will realise they’re for garbage | No | free bins are great but do we really need MORE advertising space – i work in advertising and i still find this offensive! | “as mentioned i have not used it but the receptacles looked very small for the total size of the structure. and it just seems like another appalling advertising opportunity, that happens to have a little wastebasket attached. i prefer the 3-way bins on corners that are shorter & therefore less intrusive.” |
| 226 | 07/25/2005 11:43:00 AM | Yes | Bathurst & Wilson | Yes | The way openings are designed will prevent visitors from throwing garbage to recycling bins (unlike the ones that are in use now). | No | “Hard to overlook, yet not in the way.” | Yes | “I like these bins much more than the ones that are being used now and if the city can use them and even gain profit from it, it’s just a plus.” | “If there’re ads on both sides of the bin, newcomers and tourists might find it hard to consider it a garbage bin when approaching it from the side.” |
| 227 | 07/25/2005 12:18:46 PM | Yes | Danforth nr Carlaw Ave | No | “The bin was full, overflowing and a mess. There are too many signs and the bin is unlike any other I’ve encountered. If a trash can needs instructions, it’s a failure.” | Yes | “Terrible. Takes up too much space, looks awful and blocks view. One is installed beside a laneway further west on Danforth and blocks the view of cars coming our of the laneway.” | No | “We keep talking about improving Toronto, and making it a more attractive place for both residents and businesses. I fail to see how more billboards will improve the quality of life for our citizens or tourists.” | Get rid of them at once and bill the councillor who proposed them personally for the costs of the trial. |
| 228 | 07/25/2005 12:23:22 PM | Yes | “Danforth, east of Broadview” | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “They are too big, particularly WRT side-to-side. If you stick with these bins, is there any reason that they can’t be positioned parallel to the roadway, instead of perpendicular? That way, they’d only take up 2 feet of pedestrian walking room instead of 5 feet.” | No | [Blank] | “Too big, too much advertising.” |
| 229 | 07/25/2005 12:29:45 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “I’ve researched the matter and found out that the “free” bins would require an elctrical hook-up to illuminate their ad,billboards...that the taxpayers would end up paying for! Nothing in life is free!!” | “Any advertising agency that wants to “give” the city such unsightly trash collection stations should be suspect. So should the councillors that jump at the chance for “free” ad revenue.” |
| 230 | 07/25/2005 12:31:53 PM | Yes | Bloor and Indian Road | No | The bin was already full of garbage. The garbage recepticle part of the unit is much too small! | Yes | “I oppose the bins, absolutely, because they block and uglify the streetscape and interfere with retailers.” | No | “I oppose on principle any further incursion of buy-buy-buy into my public spaces. We are inundated with altogether too much advertising as it is, and my government(s) should not be party to this proliferation.” | Can the 7-foot monster cans! |
| 231 | 07/25/2005 01:00:55 PM | Yes | Danforth and Pape. | No | “I’m saying that I used it, but it was jammed full and I was unable to use it. The receptacle opening was too small...although at the right height.” | Yes | “Far too close to the intersection...it is an eyesore. Too tall and dangerously close to the intersection so that you can’t see if there is a car waiting to turn, and for sure it blocks the view of cars wanting to turn onto the Danforth. It ruins the asethetics of the street, it blocks the view of the entire street...it is too bulky, too large and yet doesn’t even hold enough room for garbage! And again potentially very dangerous for concealing oncoming traffic. They are almost the same height as bus shelters, do we really need more obstacles on our already cluttered and hard to navigate sidewalks?” | No | “The bins that are currently used also have spots for advertising. I often see the ads (including City of Toronto ads) and they are effective, and inoffensive in size. I have no problems with receiving bins for free and allowing a company to sell ad space for a profit, but these are too large and bulky, not worth the aesthetic damage to our city streets.” | “Garbage was pouring out of them on Sunday morning...wasn’t it supposed to solve that problem...the receptacle portion is SMALLER than before...is the point to collect garbage or to advertise? ,Cigarette receptacles are a nice idea, but why not just attach a cigarette receptacle to the outside of the current containers. BTW...I’ve never met a smoker who walked over to a cigarette receptacle with their finished cigarette and deposited it...I hope a good advertising campaign will accompany the new receptacle...because I really doubt that we are going to see a noticeable lack of butts on our city streets...but who knows, people can change...but it takes education. Hope the advertisers pay for that too!” |
| 232 | 07/25/2005 01:24:45 PM | No | Put them on the roads and keep them off the sidewalks. | No | Put them on the roads and keep them off the sidewalks. | [Blank] | Put them on the roads and keep them off the sidewalks. | No | Put them on the roads and keep them off the sidewalks. | Put them on the roads and keep them off the sidewalks. |
| 233 | 07/25/2005 01:55:00 PM | No | [Blank] | No | Haven’t used it. | Yes | They are huge and ugly! 7.5 feet tall?? Only basketball players can see overtop of them! What about the potential of pedestrians stepping out from behind one into traffic? Seems dangerous. | No | “This website about sums it up:,http://www.publicspace.ca/monster.htm,I cannot believe that in the energy crisis we face the city would even CONSIDER an option to use ELECTRIC garbage bins! That is insane! I am ashamed that council passed this test pilot program. The residents of this city are clearly the only people who care about the environment! Corporations keep the A/C cranked so low all summer that people like me have to wear sweaters and female co-workers have to use MORE energy by running space heaters. These corporations are already setting a bad example as it is clear they do not care about the environment and how they are driving up consumer energy prices because we now have to purchase energy from coal burning power plants in the U.S.Now the city is setting an even worse example by wasting energy on garbage bins! Say this out loud, doesn’t it sound silly?,ELECTRIC GARBAGE BINS...I’m very upset about this idea.” | “This website about sums it up:,http://www.publicspace.ca/monster.htm,I cannot believe that in the energy crisis we face the city would even CONSIDER an option to use ELECTRIC garbage bins! That is insane! I am ashamed that council passed this test pilot program. The residents of this city are clearly the only people who care about the environment! Corporations keep the A/C cranked so low all summer that people like me have to wear sweaters and female co-workers have to use MORE energy by running space heaters. These corporations are already setting a bad example as it is clear they do not care about the environment and how they are driving up consumer energy prices because we now have to purchase energy from coal burning power plants in the U.S.Now the city is setting an even worse example by wasting energy on garbage bins! Say this out loud, doesn’t it sound silly?,ELECTRIC GARBAGE BINS...I’m very upset about this idea.” |
| 234 | 07/25/2005 02:10:23 PM | Yes | Bloor and WIndermere | No | “1. Bin is positioned at rightangle to kerb, therefore only one set of openings are available to pedestrians (and drive by garbage deposit is not going to happen).2.Recycling portion of container is too high.3. I strongly doubt that smokers are going to carry butts around in the hope of finding a suitable garbage can.” | Yes | “As noted in Q1, the bin was postioned at rightangles to the kerb, therefore only half of it is usable by pedestrians. Drivers are not going to use it.The bin protrudes too far into the sidewalk. Sidewalk space is at a prmium to accomodate pedestrians, strollers, wheelchairs, benches, etc. as it is” | No | “Why do we need more eye pollution? Drivers would be the prime target of the advertisements as they are too large and sited to high for pedestrians to see. Judging by the number of drivers who tend to disobey traffic signals already, it’s unlikely that they would be willing to slow down to read them anyway.” | “The bins are ugly, ugly ,ugly.The advertising portion is too large. Whoever designed these is not a pedestrian. When you walk along the sidewalk, you tend to look downwards – not up in the air, so you are more likely to notice advertisements that are sighted below eyelevel. The design of the box is poor with the recycling and butt slots situated too high. The only “benefit” over existing boxes is that it has a portion to collect cigarett butts. Since so few people smoke anyway, what is the point of this. As ugly as the existing boxes are, they do have different sections for separating trash, they have room for advertising (if revenue is an issue) and they are not nearly as tall and obstructive as the Eucan test models. I normally don’t notice too much when the styles of garbage cans change, but I really, really, really heartily dislike these!” |
| 235 | 07/25/2005 03:13:11 PM | Yes | Gerrard & Pape (Outside of Gerrard Square) | No | too small and fiddly. Far too likely to become dirty from previous garbage | No | “I was aware of the collection on both sides only because I walked all the way around it. Almost nobody would notice the street-side receptacles. ,The whole device uses up TOO MUCH WIDTH. It feels like someone has built a wall across teh sidewalk.” | No | “the amount of advertising this will add to the streetscape is obscene, for relatively little gain. I would rather pay more taxes than see this kind of crass commercialization become more widespread.” | “Please do not do this. Does this really represent a vision of what city council would like Toronto to look like? Do you really think that these things enhance Toronto for residents and visitors? Is this really the best that Toronto can do? ,Please, please do NOT go ahead with these aesthetically bankrupt monstrosities.” |
| 236 | 07/25/2005 03:15:11 PM | No | I’ve seen them on Dundas at Pacific and a couple blocks west of Pacific. | No | [Blank] | Yes | “This is one of the key problems with the new ‘bins’. While we are told of reduced ‘footprints’, the optimization of the advertising sides means that they are placed even more obtrusively on the sidewalks. I’ve seen two of these things and they are now right in the middle of the sidewalk! The old ones were bad enough, given that they often were placed too close to crowded intersections, but this is even worse.” | No | “A) Noise pollution: there’s already too much corporate graffiti in this world. I’d say no to so much more of this crap if I could. ,B) I heard at one point that there would be battery recycling. What happened?,C) Positioning on sidewalks are much more obtrusive.D) Too damn big.” | Keep those tihngs off of Toronto city streets. |
| 237 | 07/25/2005 03:53:59 PM | Yes | the northeast corner of Roncesvalles and Howard Park Aves | No | “only one of the two usable sides, where the garbage goes, is accessible; the other side faces the street” | Yes | The bins take up too much room and positioned so that only one side is accessable for accepting trash. | No | they are ugly and too big | “back to the drawing board, this design stinks! these monster bins belong at the dump!” |
| 238 | 07/25/2005 05:28:59 PM | Yes | Lakeshore West (Kipling) | Yes | The illustrations are clear. it would be difficult to mix up where each kind of waste should go | No | The bins are easy to see and use from the side walk. The cigarette butt section is not practical except by a Toronto Transit stop. Otherwise I don’t think people will stand in front of the gargabe to finish their cigarette. | No opinion | “I’m not sure that these bins are any better than the recycling bins we already have, other than having a place for cigarette butts (which I’m also sceptical about). And I’m not sure if we need any more advertising around this city.” | I don’t understand why we are changing the bins. Is it style? These dins don’t seem to be easier in any way. |
| 239 | 07/25/2005 09:07:10 PM | Yes | “South side of College, just west of Bathurst” | No | “Currently the bins have information explaining that they are new garbage and recycling bins, but later they will be covered in ads. Without the signs announcing them as recycling bins they don’t really seem like them. For people new to the city they will hardly be recognizable as recycling bins. Also the openings seem to be very high, hardly suitable for children or riders of wheelchairs.” | No | “It was positioned across the width of the sidewalk, making it an obstruction for pedestrian traffic and emphasizing the advertising space rather than the fact that it is a garbage/recycling container.” | No | “The city is already littered with corporate advertising. The streets should be for people and not for giant advertisments. There is so little space left where we are not surrounded this visual pollution. While there has been an attack on private citizens advertising local bands, garage sales, etc. there has at the same time been a proliferation of corporate advertising, whose size and gratuitousness knows no bounds. To me this seems to be a confusion of priorities. It should be remembered that these bins are not “free” if we include the cost to our visual environment and public space.” | “People are unlikely to hold on to their litter for several blocks until they meet up with one of these giant cans. Rather than having monster-sized bins at the major intersections only, I think it would be more appropriate to have moderately sized bins placed more frequently.” |
| 240 | 07/25/2005 09:11:15 PM | Yes | bloor & Christy | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | You cannot even tell they are garbage bins due to the massive bilboards that surround them! | No | I feel our public space is more valuable then to have yet another eyesore of billboards take over the little space we have left without advertising. | [Blank] |
| 241 | 07/25/2005 09:27:30 PM | Yes | College and Bathurst | No | Any garbage/recycling container that requires that number of signs to explain it is poorly designed. It violates the laws of user interface design. | No | “They are far away from the curb, which is where I expect to see garbage bins.” | No | “Your question seems to encourage a positive response. Unfortunately, even the provision of these bins at no financial cost and the potential revenue do not compensate for the blight that these bins will form on the streetscape.” | “Smaller, more frequent bins would be better.” |
| 242 | 07/25/2005 09:58:37 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “easy to use, ok. but I wouldn’t classify this behemoth as practical” | Yes | they take up too much space... | No | “these things are too big, they block the view of the streets/stores ... i’m not against advertising, as long as it is not at the expense of function as it is here.the advertising on the current bins is fine” | “who is paying for the lighting bill of these bins? the company? I certainly hope it isn’t the city. regardless, is it wise to increase the electric load where we are already at capacity?” |
| 243 | 07/25/2005 10:25:10 PM | Yes | Pape & Danforth | No | “I had a difficult time realizing that the recycling opening was actually a space to put recycling in. I am not very tall and I had a difficult time reaching it. If I didn’t speak english I would have also had a hard time understanding what the different levels of the station were.I did not find the receptables practical or easy to use.” | Yes | “I did not like them at all. There were two about 15 feet away from one another. They took up a large amount of the sidewalk and they disrupted pedestrian traffic. I was not able to see vehicle traffic nor was I able to spot cyclists who could be passing by on the road side repository side which is a potential hazard. I was under the impression that Toronto was trying to ‘beautify’ itself and to increase cycling awareness and accessibility.I did not like the massive billboards intruding on public space.” | No | “I don’t think that it is worthwhile for the city to have hideously ugly garbage/recycling bins that impair pedestrian traffic flow and are an eyesore. While the city suggests this will increase revenue from the sale of commercial advertising space I wonder how this will translate in to a benefit for city residents- all four of the garbage receptacles I saw were overflowing with trash and among the trash was recyclables. How is this helping anything?,I think it is important to preserve public spaces and to be cognizant of the reality that sometimes advertising revenue is just not worth selling public space for.” | “I think that the recycling component of these bins is very poorly designed. It is quite high up, it is at eye level and most people are really lazy. It is not immediately obvious which level is intended for what function, unlike the ‘traditional’ rectangular trash/ recycling bins found elsewhere in the city.I am 100% opposed to the city installing these garbage/recycling bins. I don’t understand how the city is even contemplating these hideous eyesores as an option.Thanks for listening!” |
| 244 | 07/26/2005 12:01:16 AM | Yes | Danforth 1 block east of Pape | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “Absolutely Not. I can list several valid reasons: They are way, way, way too big. They block the street view. They are dangerous. Cars turning right can not see pedestrians crossing the street (go visit the bin listed above to see hwat I mean). Lastly, we absolutely do not need more advertising, let alone such big advertising. the” | Just one. Don’t do it. Though being a pessimist when it comes to government I am sure the palms have already been greased. |
| 245 | 07/26/2005 07:31:07 AM | Yes | “Danforth West of Pape, South side” | No | Garbage part of the receptacle was already overflowing; recycling side was not easily accessible due to traffic and parked cars (on street side). These should be rotated 90 degrees so both sides are usable if they’re going to stay. | No | “They’re not aesthetically good at all. Also take up a great deal of walking space. As noted, one side is effectively unusable.” | No | There has to be a better design that accomodates most if not all of the above goals. | “Ditch them. The last thing this city needs is another set of mass-installed eyesores, or another boondoggle. The only problems with the garbage & recycling containers that the city has had in use the last few years is that there are not enough of them in heavy traffic areas, they are not placed strategically enough, and they are not emptied often enough. Target those issues and the city will be much better off.” |
| 246 | 07/26/2005 07:50:03 AM | Yes | Bloor and Christie | No | Height was fine but actual bin opening was too small and garbage was littered all around the bin! | Yes | They are handy to access but use too much advertising! | No | We live in a commercial enough society. We require large bins which are accessible to encourage everyone to dispose of their garbage and/or recycle not more advertising!!! | [Blank] |
| 247 | 07/26/2005 08:50:13 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “They are a hazard to people walking, they block your view of the road so make crossing dangerous and generally destroy the pleasure of walking on the Danforth.” | No | Toronto needs streets pleasant and safe to walk on so we as residents enjoy living here and tourist want to spend dollars in our city. These bins are an eyesore and will destroy the appeal of the streets for everyone. The current smaller bins work and are easier to use. | I think whoever thought this up should be fired. |
| 248 | 07/26/2005 09:29:44 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 249 | 07/26/2005 11:39:28 AM | No | I could not help but notice one on Roncesvalle Ave. | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | Too large and intrusive | No | I am not in favour. They are too large and offensive blight on the street. | The bins of course have a cost. Public space is being sold to private enterprise. As we all know nothing is free. Is this not just a way for marketing companies to circumvent signage bylaws? If we cannot afford to put garbage bins on the street I think we need to increase taxes! |
| 250 | 07/26/2005 01:51:31 PM | Yes | Nielson and ellesmere | Yes | the bins are easy to understand and wasy to use | Yes | good position to the sidewalk so when walking by you can easy deposit garbage. | Yes | If it free of charge then I believe that would be great. | [Blank] |
| 251 | 07/26/2005 01:08:25 PM | Yes | “Downtown, don’t remember where” | No | It was awkward | No | “Obviously the ads are more important, because the garbage receptacles, rather than being parallel with the road, block off the sidewalk” | No | There is NO PLACE for advertising on public property – not under any circumstances. | I would much rather pay for more small bins with no advertising than get these giant billboards for free. |
| 252 | 07/26/2005 12:49:23 PM | No | [Blank] | Yes | “I think there is too many option of where to put what – needs to be more user friendly – front access only, not from both sides.” | Yes | “One I did notice was at Vanhorne & Bayview? (North East corner), I found it a bit close to the road for kids and too far aware from the bus shelter.” | Yes | [Blank] | “Yes, would be intereted in test in some of our residential apartment buildings at/near the front enterance(s).” |
| 253 | 07/26/2005 12:15:33 PM | Yes | Bathurst and College (South-west corner) | No | “No they weren’t the container is mostly ads, and doesn’t even look like a trash can. If there wasn’t a big sign saying it was a trash can I’d think it was a billboard.” | No | It gets in the way. It’s really big and it blocks the sidewalk where people are walking. | No | They are too much of an eyesore. The fact that they are cheap doesn’t make up for that. | I support smaller cans with no ads on them. Our streets are already too cluttered with ads. |
| 254 | 07/26/2005 11:43:41 AM | Yes | Ossington & Dundas – but it’s way too big and should be paralel to dundas | No | One entire garbage container is on Dundas St. I almost got hit by a car. | Yes | “Again make the advert paralel to road – I know it makes the ad not visible and would make it hard to sell space – but downtown sidewalks can’t handle the size of receptacle. Maybe use the smaller ones in the majority of the core locations. The larger ones outside of “old toronto” except at select locations like Dundas and Yonge or Yonge & Bloor – Eglinton and Yonge. ,We need the revenue source, but the way this project will work is if a lot of consideration and analysis is put into chosing the locations for the larger ones.” | Yes | “I don’t want my property taxes to go up any more than they have to. I am pratical about these things. However, the city must a) communicate the need for the revenue (perhaps point out that cities like Paris and London all have this kind of advertising in public space) and b) Must chose locations carefully!” | I don’t think so. It’s all in the above notes. I would like to thank the city for trying to solve the perrenial garbage problem with imagination and fiscal responsibility. |
| 255 | 07/26/2005 02:30:23 PM | Yes | Yonge & Wilson | No | “When I first looked at the bin, I wasn’t sure where to put my newpaper and where to put my garbage. The different holes should themselves be labelled clearly instead of having the sign up above.” | Yes | “I am sad to see advertising become even more prominent in our city, but the convenience of the bins is fine.” | Yes | “Proceeds should be used to improve anti-littering bylaw enforecment, especially with regards to cigarette butts--bits of burning trash should not be permitted to sully our city!” | “on the old/current bins, it is equally easy to dispose of trash, paper and glass/cans, but with the new bins, it looks easier to dispose of trash than to recycle--I am concerned that some people will put recyclables in the trash.” |
| 256 | 07/26/2005 04:13:04 PM | Yes | Danforth and Greenwood | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Terribly. First of all, the bin was on the side of the sidewalk away from the road, and seemed out of place. Second of all, I didn’t even know it was a garbage bin until I passed it. It just looks like a giant advertising billboard.” | No | “Absolutely not. This thing is a monstrosity that was obviously designed to sell ads much more so than collect garbage. We had to walk around it on the sidewalk – it is too big. Furthermore, it was only a few feet from one of the ‘old’ advertising garbage bins.” | “I’m all for smart private-public partnerships, but this is too much advertising and clutters the street. The old bins were fine; the new bins just seem to be greedy cash grabs. Enough is enough.” |
| 257 | 07/26/2005 04:35:44 PM | No | [Blank] | No | You should not need to read directions to know how to sort your garbage from your recycling. The opening for the recycling was not obvious. People will not take the time to sort given the difficulty in interpreting the instructions. | Yes | They are not intuitive. You should not need to read instruction. I belive in this fast paced society people will ignore the instructions and just through their recycled stuff into the regular trash basket. | No | “As currently designed my answer is no. I am good with the concept, but I think the execution needs to be improved. The bins need to be redesigned to make them more intuitive. The advertising needs to be balanced against the fact that these are recycle bins.” | Some of the advertising needs to be secured for smaller businesses and local community events. I see enough Car and restaurant ads already. Corporations need to be balanced against the community. |
| 258 | 07/26/2005 06:48:22 PM | Yes | Not sure | No | “I didn’t know it was a garbage can at first, I thought it was a vending machine!” | No | “It really is positioned badly, it blocks off a lot of the sidewalk.” | No | “Ads on city property should not be allowed, why can’t we just put in some regular waste bins?? It makes the city look really tacky.” | “To my knowledge there is absolutely no benefit to the people of Toronto other than ad revenue, and the fact that these things use (actually, waste) electricity to create light pollution at night is very disturbing. Please do not approve them!!” |
| 259 | 07/26/2005 06:48:41 PM | Yes | Not sure | No | “I didn’t know it was a garbage can at first, I thought it was a vending machine!” | No | “It really is positioned badly, it blocks off a lot of the sidewalk.” | No | “Ads on city property should not be allowed, why can’t we just put in some regular waste bins?? It makes the city look really tacky.” | “To my knowledge there is absolutely no benefit to the people of Toronto other than ad revenue, and the fact that these things use (actually, waste) electricity to create light pollution at night is very disturbing. Please do not approve them!!” |
| 260 | 07/26/2005 07:43:01 PM | Yes | Danforth & Playter | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Poorly. The end facing into the sidewalk is over-used, and the end facing the street is under-used.” | No opinion | “I am not happy with the notion of innumerable advertisements at eye level. When I spend time elsewhere in the country and abroad I find the amount of space devoted to advertising in Toronto is already comparatively large. I relish spending time in places where ads are restricted. Ads are by design demanding of one’s attention, I prefer to direct my attention freely. Advertisements are an assault on my available brain space.Also, the size of these proposed advertisements is huge. I would be happier with space devoted to community postings.” | Refocus your attention on the disposal of waste. It is clear from what I have observed that the volume devoted to garbage is inadequate: the bins are often overflowing. I am certain that these bins will need to serve even busier locations than the one placed near us. |
| 261 | 07/26/2005 08:06:12 PM | Yes | Danforth and Playter | No | It wasn’t easy to use because it was overflowing onto the street with garbage so I kept my garbage ‘til the next block & placed my wrapper into one of the older containers that works just fine and seemingly has more room. | Yes | “It’s clearly not about garbage & recycling and obviously about more, unwanted, advertising. The bins are too big to bother answering how they are positioned. They completely block vision between pedestrians & drivers; if something were to happen where a vehicle lost control or a person jumped onto the street there would be absolutely no chance to avoid an accident. I can’t believe your committee even let these out of the design fase on this point alone.” | No | Absolutely not! Garbage collection & recycling should have a price tag. It’s been free for too long. | Ads are a distraction to motorists. Ask the Ontario Ministry of Transportation what they think. |
| 262 | 07/26/2005 08:28:23 PM | Yes | Don Mills/Eglinton (Science Centre) | No | “If I had not read the billboard first, I would not have known which material goes where, because of the side to side nature of the bin. You wonder – does one type of thing go in the back and others go in the front? It is unlike the current garbage bins, which have an immediately understood system. All three collector slots face you – 1,2,3. It’s clear and simple.” | Yes | “This one was placed out of the way. It was further down the street than where people gathered, which was at the street light/bus stop/shelter and newspaper boxes. It was meant to service TTC riders as there is nothing else around, but you’d have to walk out of the way to get to it, and then walk back to the stop. Perhaps because of the height, the bin is not safe to be placed at street corners or at the lights, due to reduced visibility for drivers. That’s my guess.” | No | “I was looking at the current bins and am thinking, doesn’t the City *already* get advertising revenue from bins? They *do* have ad space all across the street-facing sides! I don’t understand why revenue generation makes a good argument for the new bins.” | “I hate the bins. It is a strong word, but I have thought it through and “dislike” was not enough. ,1. Visual pollution.The bins are huge and attract so much attention. They are visual pollution and make the city uglier. What I dislike a lot is that the bins will be lit up at night. ,2. Downtown placement,Where are these going to be placed? Will you have more of them in the downtown area or will they be evenly placed throughout the GTA? My fear is that they will be targeted at high density zones which includes downtown, where I live.3. Keep Toronto clean and green!,Some of the reasons why I love Toronto is that the city is clean and green. Please make it more beautiful, not ugly!,4. Commercialization of public space,It is clear from the design that the bin’s main function is to advertise. The tiny garbage slots on the sides look like an afterthought. I hate what these bins stand for, which is more commercialization of our public space.5. Advertising revenue generation is a poor argument,Don’t the current bins already generate ad revenue? They do have a large ad space on each of the sidewalk-facing and road-facing sides. Why is ad revenue a primary reason for the City to propose these new bins?” |
| 263 | 07/26/2005 08:39:07 PM | Yes | Pape & Danforth | No | “Unlike the older bins, the functions were not at all clear. I was not the only one confused, as a woman spontaneously commented to me while I was looking at the bin that she too didn’t understand how it worked.” | Yes | “They are appalling. The height obstructs the view of the road for cars at the corner, and they are far more visually intrusive than the older, lower bins. They do a great disservice to the streetscape.” | No | “These bins greatly detract from the look of the city, and saturate the street level with greatly unwelcomed advertisements.” | Please please please take them away. |
| 264 | 07/26/2005 11:02:11 PM | Yes | Dundas & Ossington | No | “The openings for garbage are small, not easily reached by children or the very short, and seem almost an afterthought. The openings on the side facing Dundas require the user to stand in the road to access them, nor is it immediately apparent that they even exist.” | Yes | “The bins are large enough and close enough to the corner that they may constitute a traffic hazard, since they obstruct the view. Again, half the disposal openings are so close to the curb that the user has to stand in the road to access them.” | No | “It’s obvious from their design/placement that the primary purpose of these bins is not garbage disposal, but advertising. It should be possible to sell ad space on garbage bins without actually degrading their primary functionality, shouldn’t it? The previous Eucan bins are poorly made (the doors tend to fall ajar, etc) but they’re a good height, there’s room for ads on them, and they hold more garbage, near as I can tell. Isn’t that the point of them?” | “Are these things going to be backlit? Because it strikes me that on a day when Ontario Hydro has once again begged everyone not to run their appliances for fear of a blackout, perhaps installing many electrical garbage bins isn’t terribly practical, environmentally freindly or smart.” |
| 265 | 07/26/2005 11:40:40 PM | Yes | dundas st and pasific ave. | Yes | it was very clear and noticable where to put what in and where. | Yes | i think its a good way to help people know where the trash bin is and its more visable to people when they need to dispose of things. | Yes | well i dont really know why i just think the whole idea of these trash bins is a good one. | it is very noticeable when walking down the street. hard to miss. |
| 266 | 07/27/2005 01:54:41 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “They are ugly, often they take attention from the beautiful surroundingd; the script and decorations stand out too much; the bins declare that they are the most important structures in the city which is not true. Garbage is not the most important item in the city. Get a better and subtler design!” | No | “The busy advertizing on them makes them stand out more. They are ugly. I presume there would be a chance to have the best graphic designers/artists do the designs, but this will hardly happen in Toronto because the one that is cheapest and reaps more profit will be chosen – also often the ugliest.” | I think they could be like peaces af art as well as functional – like good architecture can be. |
| 267 | 07/27/2005 10:12:52 AM | Yes | Wilson & Yonge (North West Corner) | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | I like them although the ones I’ve seen have been positioned farther away from TTC stops than I would’ve put them. | Yes | “The only improvement I would like to see is a solar powered sensor that would let Solid Waste Management know when the rubbish had reached a certain level and the bins needed to be cleared out. That would save time, effort, and air pollution in the collection effort.” | They’re a great idea. Keep up the great work David et. al. |
| 268 | 07/27/2005 10:54:15 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles | No | [Blank] | Yes | Weird how it sticks out into the sidewalk. Interferes with foot traffic. | No | “There are lots of other ways to raise money. ,These bins are too high, can’t see over or around them, they are rather obnoxious.” | “Should find a lower-height design, something more conducive to pedestrian enjoyment. How can we be world-class if we are going out of our way to shove ads in people’s faces?” |
| 269 | 07/27/2005 10:59:01 AM | Yes | Roncesvalles Avenue | No | Because on an angle not completely accessible | Yes | “Very poorly positioned,Too big, ruin sightlines, and get in the way” | No | “Understand why trying to find new bins, but please go back to the drawing board” | “Please, please go back to the drawing board” |
| 270 | 07/27/2005 11:43:57 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “They are retarded, too high, and an eyesore. Why don’t you guys just tattoo our fucking eyes so you don’t have to do these monkey gymnastics trying to suck corporate cockadoodledoo?” | No | “Please stop being corporate WHORES! you know all of us block this shit out! believe me, I haven’t been to the “Men’s sexual Health clinic” in YEARS!,these garbage things are designed around a fucking bill-board! When children start dying because impatient drives are taking blind right turns and you ass-holes have to pay more of our tax money for secret lawsuits, maybe you’ll learn what everyone is trying to tell you right now Don’t DO IT!” | “People block this shit out. Plus these are unsafe cuz they block a view of the corner. Would you put 8x5 foot concrete walls on the corners where you are going to put these monstrosities?,what is next? you are going to force us to wear advertisement shades? We should start charging you fuckers for the free time you get in our eyeballs? We didn’t authorize you to force your information into our brains? if you want to do that? you pay us! for every time you get the privilege of imprinting your ad on our retinas.” |
| 271 | 07/27/2005 01:38:49 PM | Yes | South side of Danforth east of Broadview | No | Explanations of what goes where are displayed far above the places the items go. Poorly thought out. | Yes | “They not only block the sidewalk, they also block the view of motorists so that they would not see someone planning to cross the street or a potential parking space.” | No | See below. | Forget it. For the amount of garbage they hold (and both ends of the one I saw on the Danforth were full to overflowing) they are far too large. We have enough advertising to contend with as it is. There is no need to add even more to our streets. |
| 272 | 07/27/2005 02:04:47 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “I found it easy enough to use, but others obviously did not (as there were recyclables hanging out of the garbage portion – part of the problem being that it was too full).” | Yes | “They are an absolute blight. They block the entire view of the sidewalk. They present a danger to pedestrians, cyclists and drivers. I urge the City to remove them immediately.” | No | See above. They make our streets look even more appauling than they presently do. | “Please remove them immediately. They block our views of each other, of upcoming traffic, and of the elements of the streetscape that are attractive (trees, humans, the sky).” |
| 273 | 07/27/2005 04:19:40 PM | Yes | Bloor and Jane | No | “No. I thought it was more advertising cluttering up our streets. They are ugly, monolithic slabs that block a pedestrian’s line of sight with the moving traffic. Very dangerous.” | No | “They are designed to get a driver’s attention and this is dangerous on many levels. Drivers should be watching out for pedestrians and traffic not looking at a billboard that will surely be advertising to them (although now it’s only the “new bins” poster.)” | No | “Will the increased revenue cover the added strain on our electricty grid from these electric garbage cans? This solution costs us all in the long run because it is not tackling Toronto’s garbage issue. By having larger bins covered in posters that will sell more stuff to people, you are only adding to the amount of garbage we create. Where will we be in 10 years? Replacing these bins with even bigger bins?” | “I think the city should have invested in more recycling bins for the city, not more advertising of our public space regardless of the cost. These new bins have a label that actually says that they are private property. Private propery on my streets? I don’t think so. Scrap these private company solutions and let’s work together to reduce the amount of garbage we create, not put bigger bins on the street covered in ads and running on electricty.” |
| student sumarized questions 2 & 4 to here – questions 5 & 6 not summarized yet. |
| 274 | 07/27/2005 04:34:38 PM | Yes | Danforth and Main | No | The slots are way too small. Filled up in a short time. No one empties or cleans them. They don’t hold much! Some one actually put a ordinary garbage can a couple of steps away... and that was overflowing too! | Yes | “Useless, do you think people driving in cars are going to stop and recycle if the slots on the other side face the road?!?! Besides, it’s positioned too close to the road to use the other slots! It actually takes a few seconds to figure out what goes where... i think people would rather litter then take the few seconds to get use to using them.” | No | They’re really ugly. The sidewalks belong to the people. They take up way too much space and are a real sell out by the city. City would be better off getting ride of all the newspaper stands in the area while they’re at it. I counted over 15 boxes at the intersection! | Something lower to the ground so little kids can start recycling early. Something with an opening on the top that you can drop garbage/recycables in and people don’t have to touch (like the old OMG boxes that have flaps- which i have touching). We don’t need any more advertisements. If you want to raise money just start ticketing litters! |
| 275 | 07/27/2005 04:37:51 PM | Yes | Danforth Avenue | No | Can was full on second day | Yes | Awful. At right angles they take space was sidewalk. What’s worse is they will be bright when lit – why have you not done that so people see what they are really like? | No | Not with these. These are too big for street and ugly. Garbage opening awakward – old can better and easier to use. Less obvious and in the way. | Get rid of these. |
| 276 | 07/27/2005 06:22:13 PM | No | [Blank] | No | Didn’t use. | No | The garbage/recycling bins are positioned in such a way as to maximise their advertising potential. I find that they contribute to visual pollution as well as obscure the sightlines of the streets and sidewalk. | No | I am a property owner and would rather pay more tax than see these ugly bins ruin our streets. | “The bins are hideous electricity-suckers. Please get rid of them, they are an embarassment to this beautiful city.” |
| 277 | 07/27/2005 08:39:27 PM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington (Southeast corner) | No | “I haven’t used this bin in the week since it was installed but I have been following how it’s being utilized by my neighbours. On the side facing the sidewalk, the tiny garbage container – not sheilded to keep out rain and snow – has been full of newspapers, plastic bottles and cans. On the side facing the street, today it contained 3 pop cans, a large glass juice bottle and a single coffee cup. The rubberized recycling slot is just plain scary. So I would have to judge that it is not “practical and easy to use”. Except as a billboard.” | Yes | “The only one I have seen (Ossington and Dundas) has been positioned to maximize advertising space and with no consideration whatsoever to neighbourhood pedestrian traffic. The bin has been sited on the least utilized corner of the intersection – the only one without a TTC stop – in such a way as to limit use of the containers facing the street, block sight lines up and down the street, and impede foot traffic.” | No | “I might be able to swallow my frustration if the city received fair value for the advertising space, as it is this deal makes the city council look like a bunch of suckers.” | Trash them. They’re embarassing. Stop this program while you still can. Please. |
| 278 | 07/27/2005 10:12:57 PM | Yes | Danforth and Pape | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They MUST be re-positioned so that the ends with the garbage openings are facing approaching pedestrians. As they are positioned now, with the advertising sides facing pedestrians, no one will use the garbage end on the street side.” | Yes | “Yes, conditional on the bins being turned sideways (see answer #4 and #6).” | “I understand the benefit of increased revenue from the advertising, and I am not opposed to (but not thrilled by) the concept of more advertising. But facing the bins sideways so pedestrians and drivers see the ads more clearly means that the disposal of litter becomes secondary. The primary purpose of these bins MUST be for garbage disposal; advertising MUST be considered secondary. Of course, Eucan will not be happy about this condition because the advertising will be much less noticeable, but if the bins are NOT turned sideways, then I am STRONGLY OPPOSED to their installation.” |
| 279 | 07/27/2005 11:42:59 PM | Yes | Bloor West & Christie | No | “You have to lean over the garbage and ash tray to put recyclables in, and the rubber baffles snag things as they go in.” | Yes | Horribly intrusive. They form a barrier to pedestrians and violate the city’s own bylaws regarding sidewalk-based advertising. | No | “There is already far too much advertising, and the city has a solid history of letting itself get screwed over in these sort of deals (see the recent OneStop scam the TTC has been hooked by). Also, a garbage can that needs electricity? What moron dreamed that up? We’re facing roaming brownouts this summer *and* you launched these on a smog day!” | “While you’re promoting them as a way of cutting garbage can ads in half (with each new billboard/can supporting room for twice as much adspace) how long until these new cans outnumber the existing silver boxes? Will the city really stop when they equal half the number of silver cans (and are therefore equal in ad space)? Somehow I seriously doubt it. Do you take us for idiots? Get rid of these sidewalk billboards disguised as garbage cans! We don’t need or want more advertising in public space. If the city is so hard up for revenue, start charging more for the ad space you already provide! The advertisers need the city more than the city needs the advertisers, and it’s time you realized that. Add a billboard tax while you’re at it.” |
| 280 | 07/28/2005 12:13:02 AM | Yes | “Pape and Gerrard,Gerrard Square” | Yes | “The openings were at the right height. The signs were helpful. It was nighttime, but the organics side was green (?) so that should make it easier in the daytime.” | Yes | “They’re too fat, they take up too much of the sidewalk and it looks ugly. It doesn’t appear that aesthetics are taken into account. It’s drab. It’s boring. It’s too big. It’s ugly.” | Yes | “I am in favour of the installation, just not the ones that have been designed now. I love how you have battery disposal and organics (!!!) disposal now. I hate the ash tray but then again people should be fined for throwing their litter and cigarette butts on the floor, so the ash tray can stay as long as it doesn’t result in smokers gathering around the garbage bin and creating a smoke cloud around the garbage bin.” | “Be creative. Add some curves. It’s too awkward. It’s just a big block sitting in the middle of the sidewalk. Hold a contest or something, I’m sure someone will come up with a better idea.” |
| 281 | 07/28/2005 08:00:59 AM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “I passed one of the new bins at Port Union/Lawrence Ave. E. and there was even,more litter on the ground surrounding it than,with the old ones. I think that the most effective bins around schools and plazas are the old open rectangular ones that teenagers,can just toss the trash into.” |
| 282 | 07/28/2005 10:13:01 AM | Yes | Danforth & Broadview | No | “bin was completely full, and garbage overflowing on street” | Yes | “I feel the larger bin is too wide and juts into the pedestrian traffic too much, all for the sake of advertising. Easily half of the sidewalk width is dissected by this bin.” | No | we have enough advertising in our city. | we have enough advertising in our city. |
| 283 | 07/28/2005 10:18:18 AM | No | saw one at Finch & Don Mills | [Blank] | “Didn’t try it, I saw it while riding Finch bus.” | No | “Positioning is okay, but please be careful about not obstructing the view that drivers have of intersecting streets/driveways.” | No | “I like the idea of having new improved garbage/recycling bins. I don’t like the idea of seeing more corporate advertising cluttering our streets and causing more visual pollution. I would prefer the city to buy or rent the bins instead of using corporate advertising to fund this project. Perhaps the various levels of governments could buy the ad-space: i.e. I would be agreeable to the ad-space being used for public advertising from government for things such as health messages (for example: preventing west nile virus, immunization, nutrition for kids, etc.) or environmental/green messages (for example: tips for composting, reducing energy consumption, how to safely dispose old computers/batteries/paint/car tires/oil/hazzardous wastes). Government ads would have to be nonpartisan.” | Could you build the bins as one of the walls of bus shelters? This would make the bins less intrusive on our sidewalks/public areas. |
| 284 | 07/28/2005 10:33:28 AM | No | saw one at Finch & Don Mills | [Blank] | “Didn’t try it, I saw it while riding Finch bus.” | No | “Positioning is okay, but please be careful about not obstructing the view that drivers have of intersecting streets/driveways.” | No | “I like the idea of having new improved garbage/recycling bins. I don’t like the idea of seeing more corporate advertising cluttering our streets and causing more visual pollution. I would prefer the city to buy or rent the bins instead of using corporate advertising to fund this project. Perhaps the various levels of governments could buy the ad-space: i.e. I would be agreeable to the ad-space being used for public advertising from government for things such as health messages (for example: preventing west nile virus, immunization, nutrition for kids, etc.) or environmental/green messages (for example: tips for composting, reducing energy consumption, how to safely dispose old computers/batteries/paint/car tires/oil/hazzardous wastes). Government ads would have to be nonpartisan.” | Could you build the bins as one of the walls of bus shelters? This would make the bins less intrusive on our sidewalks/public areas. |
| 285 | 07/28/2005 10:37:19 AM | Yes | Jane and Bloor | No | The garbage opening is awkward and small. The shape means you have very little space to explain clearly which hole is for what. | Yes | I had the way they block my view of the street. The seem dangerous for cars’ view when turning corners. | No | “They are ugly. They do not serve their function (the garbage bin is too small, I’ve seen them overflowing). They block pedestrians and they block street views. Over half of their space is wasted (the upper half contains no garbage).” | Please respect the results of this poll and do NOT use these bins. I’d rather you’d raise my taxes. |
| 286 | 07/28/2005 10:46:03 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | We have too much advertising already. | [Blank] |
| 287 | 07/28/2005 10:51:12 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 288 | 07/28/2005 10:53:37 AM | Yes | Bloor and Jane | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | The one side of the garbage bin can not be used because one actually has to go onto the street | No | They are TOO big and obstruct the view. The actual size of the garbage container seems too small and I have noticed that it is overflowing a number of times. | “The OMG bins were ok and inobtrusive, these new bins are just TOO big.” |
| 289 | 07/28/2005 10:58:19 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | Get in the way when you are walking by. | Yes | Stick out too much into the sidewalk. Not plumb vertical. Too tall. | No | These detract from the cityscape because they are too tall. They shove the advertising in your face too much. | Put them sideways so they are not so tall. |
| 290 | 07/28/2005 11:01:16 AM | Yes | Bloor and Dundas | No | It took a while to figure out the directions at first. | Yes | too big – and take a lot of space when perpendicular to the sidewalk. | No | “They look like advertising signs first and garbage bins second. The fact that the box is so stylish and shows advertising, dissuades me from putting “garbage” in it.” | “If the main idea is advertising revenue, these boxes can be made to do just that, rather than combine garbage functionality.Further, truly speaking, advertising alongside garbage doesn’t help create brand value for the company that is advertising. You will probably find it hard to convince big spenders to advertise on this box.” |
| 291 | 07/28/2005 11:09:32 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “From the pictures, it looks like they take up a lot of sidewalk space, which would be annoying on heavily traffiked areas and in some places, the sidewalks can be quite narrow already. I would like to go see some of these boxes to see how they are positioned in the downtown core (where I work and live)” | No | “I don’t like a 7 foot high garbage bin obstructing my view of the city... walking down the street, line of sight to a garbabe bin. The city doesn’t need that. Keep them low to the ground.” | They’re simply too tall. |
| 292 | 07/28/2005 11:12:29 AM | No | [Blank] | No | should include a button here.... don’t know | No | [Blank] | Yes | im in favor if you jack less tax from the local business owners... | might wanna try a small commercial to push the usage of these... |
| 293 | 07/28/2005 11:12:54 AM | Yes | “Bloor & Jane St. (on Bloor Street, east of Jane)” | No | No – it isn’t obvious that the newspapers and cans go in the same spot. This means people just passing by will throw things in the wrong place. | Yes | One end of the bin is positioned facing the street. This means a person would have to step out to the sidewalk’s edge – could be dangerous if a car was going by. It also means that some people won’t realize that there is another opening for garbage there – meaning a wasted area. | No | “1. They block the view. This could also be a safety issue as you might step out in some cases to cross the street, and they would block the view of an oncoming car. Also, they block the view if you are looking for a particular street address or shop. 2. We have enough advertising in our lives. This advertising is too “in your face”. 3. The actual garbage receptacles are quite small. They will overflow quickly. 4. At first glance people who aren’t familiar with the city won’t realize they are a garbage receptacle. 5. Ruins the mood of the street – makes it look tacky, commercialized. 6. One end is right on the edge of the street – will not be used or noticed.” | [Blank] |
| 294 | 07/28/2005 11:32:14 AM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | Confusing. I don’t want to stand with my litter and have to figure out where it goes. | Yes | Absolutely horrible. It cuts the sitelines of the sidewalk. WAY TOO BIG. Monstrous. It is quite obvious that function (trash disposal) is not leading form. | No | Absolutely NOT. At what point does the city stop selling its streetscapes for peanuts (and this deal does not produce sufficient funds to make up for the sellout of OUR public space). | If the city is serious about litter then it needs to put trash collection first and advertising dollars second. I just walked three blocks through the heart of Little Italy on College and did not encounter a single existing (old or new) garbage bin. THREE BLOCKS in the midst of one of the most pedestrian intense neighbourhoods in this part of the city. This is what you get when your bins are placed strategically as billboards and not where they need to be for garbage collection. When I visit similar spaces in other cities of the world the bins are smaller and closer space (approximately 3-4 per block) – this ensures good trash collection first and foremost – but if you put four of these new monster bins per block it would be an utter disaster. What is our priority – reducing litter or collecting a pittance – EMBARASSING. |
| 295 | 07/28/2005 01:08:04 PM | Yes | Danforth near Chester | Yes | “I like the fact that the garbage opening does not have a flap over it, as flaps on other cans become dirty and I don’t want to touch them.” | Yes | “The positioning is not great because to use the opposite end of the bin, one practically has to stand on the street, or else shuffle between the bin and any parked cars. It seems more logical to me to turn the bins so that either side faces the length of the sidewalk (not the width).” | No | “No, I find the massive ads to be an eyesore, and don’t feel that our sidewalk space should be for sale, no matter if the city would profit.” | “I noticed that the bin on Danforth was newly place over the last weekend (July 22). By Sunday night (July 24), the garbage sections of the bin on both ends were overflowing with garbage and were no longer useable. Even if the city were to increase garbage collection(which I’m sure would be costly), it makes good preventative sense to increase the size of the garbage portion of the bins.” |
| 296 | 07/28/2005 01:24:36 PM | No | Have seen one at Jane & Bloor but not used it. | No | “The design is stupid, with openings on the narrow ends and too close together. Litter bins should have big, inviting, easy-to-use openings. The labeling of the city’s existing 3-part bins is much more sensible, with one simple label near each slot.” | Yes | Crosswise positioning blocks too much of the sidewalk and places one end of the bin where it’s hard to use. | No | See next item. | “These are billboards, not garbage bins -- unless the law of gravity has been repealed, more than half of the volume is not being used for garbage at all. The function of litter bins is supposed to be to reduce littering and improve the streetscape -- these billboards are so large they are detrimental to the streetscape. We have too much advertising on the streets (not to mention the TTC) as it is. If there is to be a new design of litter bin, the city’s garbage department should be the people who come up with it, not someone who wants to sell advertising space.” |
| 297 | 07/28/2005 03:41:12 PM | Yes | Jane & Bloor | Yes | “But it’s not practical. The container for the garbage and recycling is so small that it will be over-flowing quickly. This means that the bins have to be empty more frequently, which means more money to pay someone to empty the bins, which leads to increased taxes. No one wants to pay more taxes.” | Yes | “The problem is, who is going to really walk around to the other side close to the street to toss their garbage. No one that I know.” | No | “These bins are way to high, they obstruct the view. They look like the old bus stops, and now even the bus stops have changed to a more friendly look with all glass so that you can see through it. As mentioned above, smaller bin = more frequently the bins needs to be emptied = more money = more taxes. Even with the revenue generated from the commerical advertising, it will just cover the cost of overhead in managing the garbage in the bins. Also they would be an eye sore to have such a huge thing on the street and the actual containers for the garbage and recyclables are so small. The majority of the space is just unused empty space. What’s the point of these bins again???” | “Personally the current garbage/recycling bins being used are much better. Because it does not block ones view. You can still have commercial advertising on these. The only thing is to make the opening for the garbage and recycling larger, and get rid of the flap. Many times the only reason why the garbage/recyclables overflow is because the opening is too small and no one wants to touch the flap, so they just stick the garbage/recyclable in the opening and just leave it there.” |
| 298 | 07/28/2005 04:22:02 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | I didn’t realize it was a recycling bin until I had almost passed it. | No | [Blank] | No | I hate it. It’s an absolute eyesore – and that opinion wouldn’t change no matter how it was installed. | Please do not install these bins. They are terrible – and would be a true detriment to the city’s image. |
| 299 | 07/28/2005 04:27:47 PM | No | Kingston Road and Main Street | No | Don’t know – the whole this is so awful I haven’t used it yet. | No | They are a terrible visual and physical intrusion. Why do we need yet more advertising signs to clutter up our public realm??? | No | The bins are a terrible visual and physical intrusion. The last thing we need is yet more advertising signs to clutter up our public realm. I thought we were pursuing a City Beautiful campaign. | Please remove them as soon as possible. |
| 300 | 07/28/2005 04:31:45 PM | Yes | Bloor & Windermere | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | too high and very intrusive in front of the curb of the street | No | The bins are an eyesore and they look like instant photo booths! They do not add to the aesthetic of the public spaces. | [Blank] |
| 301 | 07/28/2005 04:34:00 PM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington | No | It blocks the sidewalk. The openings are less clear than existing bins. | No | “Visually, ugly. Practically, of limited effectiveness. Safety and Comfort-related, blocks the street, is too darn large, and is an eyesore. Ethically, a grey area.” | No | A relatively SMALL cost savings does not justify a major compromise of MY and OUR urban spaces. | Please remove existing ones and do not allow more. Thanks for letting me input. |
| 302 | 07/28/2005 04:34:15 PM | Yes | Pape and Danforth | No | openings too small – not enough room to capture garbage and spread it around in side. Will overflow easily. | No | Too invasive – sidewalks are already narrow enough. These are terrible. They are hard to manouver around on busy streets plus they look ugly. | No | The city should over the cost of garbage collection through taxation. Why should it be sponsored?? The city already gets revenue from teh EXISTING WELL DESIGNED and more AETHESTICALLY (sp?) PLEASING garbage bins. | Keep these trashy trash bins out of our city. Toronto is ugly enough – we do not need to litter it with more bad design in the public realm just so you can save a few bucks a year. It is a really sad statement that you are willing to trade off a quality public realm for your city for the benfit of the corporate world. greed and short sightedness. |
| 303 | 07/28/2005 04:34:42 PM | No | Bloor West Village – Windermere & Bloor | No | [Blank] | Yes | Likely to destroy public spaces in the city. | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 304 | 07/28/2005 05:16:47 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “It is not a good deal for the City. The bins do more harm to public space then they could recoupe from income. The fact that they are huge, powered (when we are in an energy crisis) and just ugly add up to saying NO to puting 1500 of them around the city.” | [Blank] |
| 305 | 07/28/2005 05:46:12 PM | Yes | lakeshore/brownsline | Yes | I love the ashtrays. | Yes | It’s a great design. They look fantastic on the streets. | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 306 | 07/28/2005 06:57:08 PM | Yes | Finch/Mccowan | No | Bigger trash can not be put in. | Yes | It is a stupid idea. It is so big & high that it blocks the view of the traffic to pedestrains and the TTC passengers waiting for the buses. It is no way to place such bin on the sidewalk. | No | It is because our views and safety on roads and to traffic are priceless and invaluable. Such revenue can not cover any loss of lives and disaster created by this blocking monster. | “Yes, it also creats a crime scence because it is a good hiding place for the bad people to do crime. It is a blindspot for the pedestrains. I don’t know why this testing is happening. If trash bins on streets can be so big, they are already on the streets since they first appear. So, move all these stupid monsters out immediately. Can you bear such responsibilty if a traffic accidence or a crime happened due to this trash bin? Also, the openings of those old trash bins provided by the same company are so small that bigger trash can not be put in.” |
| 307 | 07/28/2005 07:33:32 PM | Yes | various locations along the Danforth | No | all the bins I’ve seen have been overflowing with garbage | Yes | “They block the view of the streetscape, especially for pedestrians but also for drivers. They stand in the way of pedestrians trying to use the sidewalk because of the way they are positioned, across the width of the sidewalk.” | No | “The previous bins were fine, and did not take up such an enormous amount of visual space. As I understand it, the city only gets a small portion of the advertising revenue, so it is a much better deal for the company that owns the cans than it is for the city. Surely there are better ways for the city to increase its revenue.” | They are absolutely the ugliest garbage cans I’ve ever seen. They create severe visual pollution on otherwise pleasant city streets. Please get rid of them! They were a really bad idea! |
| 308 | 07/28/2005 08:44:45 PM | Yes | Greenwood & Danforth | No | “The openings on the traffic side were extremely close to the curb. If I actually walked to that side to dispose of something in the bins I would not feel safe.I did not find this easy to understand. The diagrams were not particularly clear and the printing was very fuzzy. I was not impressed in any way by these bins.” | Yes | I think these are awful. They are glorified horrible billboards that impose on public space. | No | I am horrified that the city would even consider installing these bins even if there is an opportunity for revenue. They are hideous and they are a visual eyesore on the sidewalks. | I think that these are hazards and that people will just take the opportunity to kick them in and smash the billboards. I do not understand why the city is even considering having these bins installed. |
| 309 | 07/28/2005 08:47:33 PM | Yes | Gerrard & Pape (Gerrard Square) | No | I was on my bicycle and I stopped to take a look at these. As a cyclist I found that the end facing traffic was quite hazardous. If there was a pedestrian walking to dispose of something in these bins as I was walking by I would be forced out in to traffic or risk coming in to very close contact with the disposer. I don’t understand how the City can think these bins are practical and easy to use. | Yes | I really hate them. I have never felt so strongly about a City initiative before. | No | “Would you take a hideously ugly shirt that was extremely flammable just because it was free and you got a shirt out of the deal? No, of course not. Why would this even be considered? It makes me question the governance of the City.” | Take them away. |
| 310 | 07/28/2005 08:49:26 PM | Yes | Broadview & Danforth (a bit east of Broadview on Danforth). | No | These bin blocked my view of oncoming traffic. I was approaching the cross walk with lights and found that my vision was extremely blocked by these bins. | Yes | Ridiculous. Who would use the side that practically juts out on to the street? Why would you risk that to conserve your pop can? | No | “Horrible idea.No support for this.” | Remove them. |
| 311 | 07/29/2005 08:23:22 AM | Yes | Jane & St Clair | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | excellent advertising medium |
| 312 | 07/29/2005 08:33:15 AM | Yes | Don Mills Road and Finch Avenue East | No | The purpose of each opening needs to be clearly identified BESIDE each opening. There is not enough room for this. | [Blank] | “Fine, but make sure you don’t block drivers’ view as they prepare to turn onto a main street.” | Yes | IF there is increased opportunity (and action) on properly handling more types of waste and recyclables. | “There doesn’t appear to be enough room to store the garbage (the containers seem too small).The openings look too much alike for each type (cigarette butt and battery for example). Standard opening shapes should be adopted that match other City bins.” |
| 313 | 07/29/2005 08:53:14 AM | No | [Blank] | No | “The recycling slot looked dirty. I wouldn’t want to use it because I might get dirty from it. Also, the recycling slot doesn’t look like it takes recycling. There are no hints to that effect like a green colour or the standard recycling symbol (the arrows making a triangle).” | Yes | I like that they are unobtrusive and work well as advertising space. | No | “I am in favour of the City making money from them but they need to be improved first. I think these things will degrade quickly, especially the recycling part. The one that I saw had garbage in the recycling slot. I think this is because the recycling slow wasn’t identified clearly as I mentioned above.” | The existing garbage/recycling bins are easier to use. |
| 314 | 07/29/2005 09:16:23 AM | Yes | Finch & Torresdale | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | Good way | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 315 | 07/29/2005 09:29:07 AM | Yes | Bloor and (Close to Keele) | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “I think that enything to help of take care of our place is wellcome. Any place is ok, just the poeple have to learn how to use it and get involved.” | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 316 | 07/29/2005 10:16:58 AM | No | “I have not used the bins, but have seen them on Roncesvalles and Bloor, west of Dundas.” | No | “At a glance, the instructions look detailed and I am concerned that people will not be able to understand or take the time to figure out which openings are the appropriate for garbage and recyclables. I do not recall if any languages beyond English are used in the bin instructions, but language must be considered in order to increase accessibility.” | Yes | “The positioning of the bins perpendicular to the street means that to use the street side of the bin, one would have to stand on the street to dispose of garbage. Furthermore, the bin openings are so close to the street that where there are parked cars, one would have to squeeze between the car and bin in order to dispose of garbage. Neither scenario is safe. This positioning does not encourage the use of the bin.” | No | “I think these bins are horrendous, and quite frankly I am embarrassed about what they will do to detract from Toronto’s streets. The advertising seems to take priority over the accessibility and functionality of the city’s garbage and recylcing bins. I also think that they pose a public safety risk, as described in question 4, and because one cannot see if someone is hiding behind the massive billboard (which extends all the way down to the sidewalk).” | “I applaud the city for making recycling bins available on the streets. However, I do not think that this test bin is safe or accessible. Having massive advertising billboards, masquerading as garbage and recycling bins, obstructing the sidewalks is an unfortunate direction for the city to take.” |
| 317 | 07/29/2005 10:17:28 AM | Yes | Scarborough Town Centre MacCowan and 401 | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 318 | 07/29/2005 10:25:52 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | They overwhelm the sidewalk and pollute the public realm. | No | “These are not bins, they are billboards containing bins. They are as unsightly as the litter they are meant to prevent.” | “Get rid of them. Design a bin that is functional and attractive (as has been done with transit shelters) and incorporates advertising or sponsor logos in a creative, non-garish way.” |
| 319 | 07/29/2005 12:03:55 PM | Yes | At Danforth & Pape | No | “The openings are too small. One side faces the gutter and is impossible to get to. The instructions are complicated. The look like advertising poster sites, not garbage bins.” | Yes | They are an obstruction to pedestrians. They project many feet into the central part of the sidewalk. They are a hazzard. | No | “I am NOT in favour, they are large, unncessary obstructions on an already busy sidewalk. They are pure advertising vehicles and will not help keep the street clean.” | “These are city sidewalks and public places meant for easy access. WE DON”T WANT THE LARGE, UGLY THINGS!” |
| 320 | 07/29/2005 12:30:04 PM | No | No because it is unsightly and was stuffed with garbage. | No | “The bins are tiny and were overflowing with garbage. The bin is not practical. It is only “easy” to use if you do not have a conscience about public space and don’t mind a huge ad blocking your view of the street.” | Yes | The bins are an eyesore that take up too much space. I do not enjoy looking at added advertising and the bins take up too much space. Their position is irrelevant next to their sheer size. | No | “NO WAY!!! They’re enormous and ugly and I hate them. Remove them at once! They’re awful looking, they pollute our public space with ads and they hardly hold any garbage. Find another way to get that revenue that doesn’t involve clogging our streets with advertising.” | “Get rid of them. They’re horrible. Let’s put the money into an educational campaign to promote creating LESS garbage rather than advertising for more products, that produce the garbage and garbage-making consumer culture.” |
| 321 | 07/29/2005 01:19:48 PM | Yes | Queen & Lansdowne | No | “The actual holding capacity of the bin is quite small, especially given how obstructive the billboard/bin is to foot traffic. (I’m saying “no” here because there are only two options – in fact my response is “yes, it’s easy to use” and “no, the bin is not practical given the city’s needs”.)” | Yes | “The bins should not be installed perpendicular to the street as the one I used is. It makes no sense to have one of the openings face the street – it would be very awkward and even dangerous to try to deposit garbage on the street side of the bin. Also, the bin takes up way too much of the available sidewalk – most sidewalks are too crowded as it is. If the bin has to be there, it should be as narrow as possible and have both openings accesible and facing pedestrians as they walk towards it.” | No opinion | “I would prefer to see the city provide its own bins without advertising. If the city really needs these revenues, sponsors should be told in no uncertain terms that the primary function of the bins is to act as a repository for garbage and recycling! These bins have been set up primarily as billboards, with the collection of a small amount of garbage and recycling as a minor side activity.” | “There is undoubtedly a more practical, higher capacity design of bin available, even if advertising is required. If the city determines that it will use these bins, they must to be placed lengthwise parallel to the street.” |
| 322 | 07/29/2005 01:41:50 PM | Yes | McCowan RT station | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | This bin could of been situated farther away from the main road where the cars were parked for pick up. I had to stand on the curb to throw something in the garbage side. | Yes | Sure.. why not. | Something should be looked into how frequent the bins are changed.. since there is green/organic matter that will be thrown in. I was standing next to one.. and I could smell the organics and the cigarette butts!! |
| 323 | 07/29/2005 01:55:00 PM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Funny angle – sticks out into the sidewalk, not sure why.” | No | Don’t like the fact they are taller than me. | Should be shorter so you can see over them. |
| 324 | 07/29/2005 02:43:15 PM | Yes | King and Strachan | No | “The garbage opening was well placed. The recycling opening was rather high. I can see children and elderly people, or anyone who has difficulty reaching that high, having trouble using it. The openings were not clearly differentiated; black rubber against gray steel is not helpful. I was surprised at the generous size of the receptacle for cigarette butts, as well as its placement, which apparently favours smokers over recyclers, given the placement of the recycling opening.” | Yes | “I think that the bins are too large--especially, too high. They block views of the street and along the sidewalk. Anything that cannot be seen over makes navigating the city more difficult and more dangerous. Pedestrians are already presented with enough obstacles.” | No | “Besides the issues already mentioned, there is no facility for collecting organic waste. Also, there is really no need for more advertising, especially if it obstructs views of the street and impedes sidewalk traffic. Further, I understand that the bins will be lit at night; in addition to the distraction this will cause for drivers, should the City not be conserving electricity, for both economic and environmental reasons, rather than encouraging additional, unnecessary use of it? Finally, who would be responsible for emptying and maintaining them? If it is the City, then the bins are not free beyond the first day.” | “I know a little about the history of this project, and know that the company trying so hard to get the City to adopt these ungainly advertising boards has previously shown itself not to be overly considerate of the City’s residents. Their positioning of the lower, existing collection bins so as to increase their visibility to drivers, while further blocking the sidewalks, is an example. Since their major interest is advertising, the City should encourage them to use the spaces already available to them, and not provide them with free sidewalk space.” |
| 325 | 07/29/2005 03:35:39 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 326 | 07/29/2005 03:59:10 PM | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 327 | 07/29/2005 05:03:39 PM | Yes | Finch and Islington SE | Yes | “It is perfect, I cant complain” | Yes | This is great so people can throw garbage out on any side. | Yes | “This is great, it beautifys the city with pictures.” | “We should not have a pilot project for this, this should start ASAP. This is such a brillant thing that the city has gotten involved with. keep up the good work.” |
| 328 | 07/29/2005 05:20:12 PM | Yes | kinston and st clair | Yes | they where at at a grat height and they dont hurt when you use them un like the old ones that the doors close on your hands and there is a place to throw your smoke butt | Yes | even thought they are big they arent ugly and they help out us smokers when we are out side by giving us a place to put are cigarette butts which will help to make our city look good because then you can walk down the street and not see hundreds of cigarette butts laying around | Yes | i dont care how they get them i just hope that i start seeing more they are great | yea these bins dont hurt you and they arent metal they make the area where they are placed look nicer |
| 329 | 07/29/2005 05:59:01 PM | Yes | Queen West and Jameson Howard Park-Dundas -Roncesvalles | No | Queen West bin has receptacle opening to traffic who and how is use encouraged? position next to TTC shelter makes a good slalom course in peak hours. Roncesvalles is on an angle making it a barrier and inconvenient for the use it was designe for. Do we need more ads ? | Yes | see above. Carefully positioned to be ugly inefficient inconvenient and obtrusive all at the same time | No | see both aboves | small attractive receptacles every few blocks will not take any longer too service or more staff to perform that service |
| 330 | 07/29/2005 06:37:42 PM | [Blank] | Danforth and Chester | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They take up far too much room. Their size has little to do with their function, and everything to do with creating an ad that is impossible to ignore. The Danforth has a lot of pedestrian traffic, as do most streets on which I have seen the bins. The bins make it even harder for pedestrians to navigate the city.” | No | “Toronto is a good place to live. Sadly, it is an ugly city for the most part. These bins are simply one more instance of the continued uglification project. I thought we were turning a corner, but this seems to be a sign that nothing has changed.” | “This is the only time in which I have ever officially recorded my views about Toronto. I have always had the sense that decisions are made with little thought to their impact on the aesthetics of the city. We always act as though we are poor; I can’t but think of J.K. Galbraith’s comment about private wealth vs. public squalor. I’d like to think we deserve better, but in many ways we are a vulgar society. ,Lastly, very few people are going to submit comments. The full impact of these bins will not be recognized until we have giant ads in our faces every block or so.” |
| 331 | 07/29/2005 07:25:57 PM | Yes | McCowan Subway Station | Yes | “For the most part, they openings of each slot are the right height. Garbage and organic waste bins are a good idea since they would probably get used the most. The instructions could be better; for example, easily identifiable signs on each slot so that the proper material could be disposed quickly when walking by.” | Yes | “The “stand” at McCowan station is situated right at the end of the sidewalk, and there is only a foot of clearance between the garbage disposal bin and the road. You would have to step onto the road itself to dispose an item on the road-side of the bin (which is really dangerous.) This also creates an annoying problem when walking by the stand and realizing that the garbage disposal bin is on the opposite side of where you would be. Even though it only takes a couple of seconds longer to go to the other side of the stand and dispose the garbage, it’s an extra hassle that people have to deal with and they would probably just dispose it in the organic waste bin, on the sidewalk side.” | No | “The unique feature about these bins is that they allow you to dispose of old batteries also. I don’t know of many places around the city that let you dipose baterries. But they do seem to be quite big and “in-your-face”. Ideally, they should be placed on grass-side of the sidewalk rather than near the curb.” | These stands are a good idea but they seem like they could be improved upon. |
| 332 | 07/29/2005 07:49:31 PM | No | “I have not used, but have examined the bin. It is at Bloor and Jane” | Yes | The openings seemed to be the right height and easy to use. The explanations seemed more complicated than necessary | Yes | I think they are an imposition. They take up too much of the sidewalk. This could make it difficult for pedestrians in a busy shopping district. | No | The cost savings and revenue are not worth giving up so much of our precious pedestrian space to these ugly structures. I think we should pay to have appropriate bins. | “The openings for depositing garbage and recyclables are an improvement from the previous bins. I think the bins should be shorter than the proposed model, and the openings facing the roadway are not very useful.” |
| 333 | 07/30/2005 09:24:06 AM | Yes | McCowan and Lawrence | Yes | “I thought that it was a great idea to have the opening for the recycling up and away from the lower garbage opening so that those who do not read engligh or who just don’t care cannot easily contaminate the recycled materials unlike the present, horizontal garbage/recyling containers.” | Yes | “The ones I have seen are located near bus shelters at major intersections, where you normally expect to have a garbage can or a recycling bin, but it takes up less space. It’s refreshing and innovative. It motivated me to try and seek one out when I had a can to recycle just so I could use it. It looks like something that you would see in an upscale area.” | Yes | Of course! | “No real suggestions other than it being emptied often enough so that garbage or recycling does not spill out of it (same suggestion could be used for current bins, too)” |
| 334 | 07/30/2005 11:47:11 AM | Yes | Ossington& Dundas | No | “Slot for newspapers was to small and rubber pieces interfered with dropping in the papers. I took the time to read the instructions, but I think many people would not bother. The use of the rubber lined slot for papers was not readily apparent.” | Yes | At Ossington and Dundas they are merely unsightly. At a more busy intersection they would block pedestrian access. | No | “They are extremely unsightly and the advertising portion is far too large. I am not opposed to advertising, per se. However, these bins are far too large.” | “Please do not implement this programme. It would make our City unsightly. By destrying the “look and feel” of Toronto, these bins could ultimately create more garbage as citizen’s sense of pride in this city is eroded. i.e. why bother to keep an ugly city clean.” |
| 335 | 07/30/2005 08:36:06 PM | Yes | Keele and Sheppard (SE Corner) | Yes | “The openings were at the right height, and marked well.” | Yes | It seems as if the positioning of the bin is to maximize exposure for the advertising to motorists – the positioning is bad as only one side of the bin is visible and easily accessible to pedestrians. | No | “There is a cost to garbage bins, it being either maintenance and collection fees borne by the city, or a degradation of the visual environment by more advertising. I admit, they do not look out of place in the suburban areas, but I’d hate to see these bins downtown, where sidewalks are narrow and busy, and where there are enough visual distractions.” | “The dimensions are too big and are a barrier. I don’t mind the current former OMG bins, even with ads, because they are about the right size, and are generally positioned properly for pedestrians. I am not anti-advertising per se, but the size and poor use of the two openings makes these an unwelcome addition ot Toronto’s street furniture. I hope that this is only a trial, and will not see these bins permanent.” |
| 336 | 07/30/2005 08:55:27 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | Awkward positioning. | Yes | “Bin on Dundas at Ossington, only 1 side is usable. the other butts up onto the street.” | No | They are huge. And ugly. And I don’t want to be bombarded with advertising that big. They are an eyesore. | “Can’t they make something smaller? Do we have to have more billboards in this city, blocking views and making Toronto look trashier?” |
| 337 | 07/30/2005 09:40:01 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | “The are an eyesore. Worse, they block sightlines on the sidewalk. With them on the sidewalks, I’m afraid to walk around my neighbourhood late at night. Anyone could easily hide behind them. I’m now walking my dog earlier. And no longer returning videos late at night.” | No | See above. There must be safer ways to generate revenue. | Ge them off the Danforth now!!! |
| 338 | 07/31/2005 10:12:35 AM | No | Bloor Street by High Park | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “too intrusive, but considering their size I don’t see how it could be placed any better” | No | Despite the advantages the bin is just too large and ugly to even be considered. | Even though the City would receive revenues from the placement of these garbage bins they are just too intrusive and ugly to be used. I just cannot emphasize strongly enough that these are just too hideous ! No no no no ! |
| 339 | 07/31/2005 11:08:49 AM | Yes | Don Mills & Van Horne | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | “Expand program to include sealed paint cans, used oil” |
| 340 | 07/31/2005 11:14:54 AM | Yes | Windermere and Bloor | No | The garbage was full on the sidewalk side. It is always full because it is far too small. The other side was towards the road and I would have had to step onto the road to put garbage in. | Yes | It is too large and prevents me from looking down the street. It is impossible to use on the street side. In conjunction with the many other items on the sidewalk it is an obstruction to the flow of pedestrian traffic and it constricts the use of half the sidewalk space for several meters to either side. | No | “I could care less about the revenue from these ugly horrors. Your task is to provide us with city services -in this case recycling and garbage bins- that work, do not leave a mess across the sidewalk and that fit in with the street scape. If the company wants to advertise they can buy sign space commercially or put an ad in the paper.” | Get a grip. |
| 341 | 07/31/2005 01:09:35 PM | Yes | Kingston Rd & Victoria Park | No | “They were on the road side of the bin, or on the inside, not where one would be walking. The ADVERTISING, however was in full view. It is primarily a billboard and a garbage bin secondarily.” | Yes | “You can’t see the road from behind one which is dangerous, plus, as I said before, the advertising is right in your face whereas the garbage bin is not.” | No | I think that it is disgusting that you are selling out our public space for more adversiting. | Yah. They are the most ugly things I’ve ever seen. Please trash them. |
| 342 | 07/31/2005 01:45:52 PM | Yes | Kennedy & Finch? | No | Kind of confusing if there was no poster that said what goes where. | Yes | Too close to the road. Hard to access one end. | No | “Advertising is too big and garbage bins are too small. The old ones were big and overflowed often, thus, the new ones will probably be even moreso.” | “Please modify the design. We are constantly bombarded with advertising and these bins will only make it worse. It has to stop somewhere. So please decrese the size of the advertising. ,More imporantly, make the bins bigger. I wish to see our city clean and these small bins will not do the job. Thank you.” |
| 343 | 07/31/2005 01:52:39 PM | Yes | Ellesmere & Neilson | Yes | Very straightforward | Yes | Some people may be unaware that recyclables are collected at both ends. Bins should be placed in areas that are accessable on both sides. | Yes | We definately need more opportunities to recycle. Many times people have materials to recycle but there are only trash cans nearby. | “the more recycling bins, the better.” |
| 344 | 07/31/2005 02:01:33 PM | Yes | “Victoria Park & danforth, and the one on Markham & Ellesmere” | No | these bins have confusing looking. | No | They aren’t very user-friedly. The old ones taht we have are real simple to use!!! | No opinion | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 345 | 07/31/2005 03:30:08 PM | No | Danforth and Pape | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “I find them obnoxius – they are so high they are a visual wall that blocks the vista of the street so you can’t see the planters and trees that are placed to try to beautify the scape. Once advertising is up on them, it will be soooooooooo in your face. I hate them! I can’t believe a landscape architect was involved in this project.” | No | It’s really offensive to see the current administration looking to do such a tasteless sellout. | “They are hugely out of scale and much too high. Waist-high waste-bins are suitable, as exist now.” |
| 346 | 07/31/2005 04:09:30 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “The principle of the openings is easy enough to understand – 3 openings for 3 types of waste, however, I was only able to understand the openings after stopping and considering the recepticle as a whole. It would be much more intuitive to have 3 seperate containers.” | Yes | “I do not approve of the way these bins are positioned. They are glorified advertisement casings, and their height and position on the sidewalk is both intimidating and distracting to motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians alike.” | No | “I believe that the monetary gains that would accompany these advertisements does not outweigh the loss that Toronto’s friendly image would take. These bins are inherently unfriendly, they offer less to the citizen than they do to the advertiser.” | “I am adamantly opposed to these bins and feel that they represent a fundamental shift in the municipal government’s attutide towards the citizens. These bins say to me: “City Hall cares more about corporate investment than it does about the cognitive liberty of the city’s residents”.Please do not go through with this program.I support public ownership of public spaces.My name is Ben Powers, I live at St Clair and Runnymede, my email address is [redacted] and my phone number is [redacted].” |
| 347 | 07/31/2005 04:10:06 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | I had to carefully read the sign to determine where to put the differen’t types or recycling. The holes for paper and cans were hard to find. I think that most people would just throw everyting in the bottom garbage bin. | Yes | They take a lot of visual real estate. I thought it was a bus shelter at first. | No opinion | “These are not free for the city, the cost is having huge ugly advertisements everywhere, intruding your mind. They are a terrible use of our very valuable public space.” | “Have garbage bins with a bench or someplace to sit instead of a huge billboard. I bought a hot-dog on the corner but had no where to sit and eat it. Visually it felt very intrusive, the height especially made it so. Advertising has no good public use. If you are going to put up such displays it should be of artwork, not advertising.” |
| 348 | 07/31/2005 05:00:32 PM | Yes | Chester and Danforth | Yes | Functionality is equivalent to the older bins located around Toronto. | Yes | I do not believe that we should be replacing the older waste disposal bins that currently populate our streets. These new bins are a drain on funds as well as electricity. | No | “These bins are an absolute eyesore on the street. They impede pedestrian traffic, and seem to be primarily used for advertising, with waste disposal as an afterthought.” | “I do not think we should be investing any time, or money, towards these new bins. Even if the city stands to receieve compensation for their placement on the street, as a citizen of Toronto I do not believe the tradeoff (eyesore, ped. traffic) is worth it.” |
| 349 | 07/31/2005 05:49:53 PM | Yes | “Danforth E of Broadview, south side” | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They are too big, take up too much room on the sidewalk, intrusive, and will look even uglier once corporate advertising gets plastered all over them. It would be great if they can be re-designed to be sleeker and not such a bloody eyesore.” | No | “Again, they are just too damn big and ugly, in my opinion.” | I think I’ve clearly stated my position. I hope there is enough negative feedback on these things to overturn any decision to use them. I am not a fan of them. What else can I say? Thanks for the feedback opportunity. |
| 350 | 07/31/2005 09:06:40 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “openings need to be individually labelled, as with traditional bins, not just a “map” of sections provided on bin” | No | “They are too big and intrusive--even as a driver, they impair ability to see potential hazards, such as child (or adult!) darting out from behind a bin.” | No | “The size and advertising are too intrusive on an already busy streetscape; at least with existing low bins, any advertising (and the bins themselves) are not directly “in your face”. As a taxpayer, I’m not even clear the proposed terms are a good deal, given what the company would receive for revenue, the cost to the city of pickups, etc. And who pays for the electricity to light the signs? Does the city really need more illuminated ads to consume precious power?” | “Put flaps with labels on each section of bin. Better still, go back to the old bins!” |
| 351 | 07/31/2005 11:11:16 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No opinion | “I think we’re already over-bombarded by advertising everywhere, but if it means they’re free, it’s harder to decide.” | [Blank] |
| 352 | 08/01/2005 09:03:37 AM | Yes | Pacific Avenue and Dundas Street West | No | Still a pain to use. | No | “They block the view of stores and pedestrian and will make a great place for escaping criminals to crouch behind to hide from police cruisers.They also are so large they make a great place for attackers to hide behind.” | No | The city is becoming too commercial. | If these go in I will not vote for any incumbent candidates. |
| 353 | 08/01/2005 11:38:03 AM | Yes | Don Mills and Van Horne | No | It was way too big and it took up too much space. It took too long to understand where things were supposed to go. I just wanted to throw out my trash. | No | They are absolutely horrible. Please get rid of them. They are an eye sore and I would rather have a basic garbage can instead. | No | “No, I would rather pay an extra 10 dollars in my tax bill than see these things go up all over town. Please get rid of them and make the garbage cans as discrete as possible.” | GET RID OF THESE MONSTROSITIES! |
| 354 | 08/01/2005 12:17:11 PM | No | [Blank] | No | There is one in my neighbourhood and I checked it out the first time I saw it. It took me at least a minute of studying it to figure out what goes where. Not only are the openings poorly labelled but the recycling opening doesn’t look like a proper opening at all and I suspect most people won’t bother studying the bin to figure out where the recyclables go and will just toss them in the easy to use garbage part instead. | Yes | “The way they are angled blocks the sidewalk and I can’t see how it will be practical to put lots of them up in areas like downtown (or my area – Roncesvalles village) where the sidewalks are narrow and crowded as is. It also makes them a real eyesore to any pedestrians, especially since the size of the advertising is so overwhelming when you are on foot and the angling really shoves it in your face. Finally, the angling hides the fact that both ends of the bin have openings for waste. The only reason I could answer yes to question #3 was that I had read about these bins in advance. Otherwise I would have not realized that the side angled toward the street had openings as well because you have to actually walk around the bin and look to see them. It’s invisible to any pedestrians just walking by.” | No | “These bins are poorly designed and won’t be as effective at their primary function, which should be collecting waste and recyclables, as the bins we’ve already got. They seem to be essentially glorified giant billboards. Not are we inundated with enough over-the-top advertising whenever we walk down the street as it is but if they are really going to be illuminated as I’ve read then they are going to be energy hogs and a distraction to drivers at night as well.” | I think that having a separate opening for cigarette butts on garbage bins is a great idea and it makes sense that there’s only one opening for recyclables now that they are sorted for us. I also don’t have a problem with the city using bins for advertising space if it is within reason. I understand that Toronto needs all the funds it can get and that the city gets a certain percentage of free advertising space. My main problem with these new bins is the scale of them and their poor design. What the city should be doing is redesigning the bins to accomadate the changes in waste disposal but keeps the bins and the advertisements on them the same size as the old ones they are to replace. |
| 355 | 08/01/2005 12:36:46 PM | Yes | “Various locations: Pacific & Dundas, Roncesvalles & Howard Park, Bloor & Dorval, etc.” | No | “They are not practical. They are absolutely the wrong height: far from being eye-catching, they are eyesores. The older design was better: horizontal rather than vertical, with side-by-side compartments (clearly labelled, obviously) for trash, bottles & cans, and newspapers. Those older bins are perfectly easy to figure out, still leaves plenty of room for advertising, and do not obstruct the sidewalk or conceal shop windows as the new bins do. If the bin requires people to stop, think for a bit, look for directions, and so forth, they will not use them: they will simply litter. Furthermore, because the new bins are such a eyesore, they will be a target for vandalism: if I were a vandal, I’d probably prefer to mess up a tall structure that I could hide behind rather than squat down and get close to a smelly old-fashioned garbage can.” | Yes | “These bins are badly designed: they should be horizontal, not vertical. I suppose that advertisers want them to be eye-catching, but in pursuing new sources of revenue, do not forget the people who are already contributing substantially to the city’s coffers: Toronto’s business owners. These bins tend to be placed in front of shop windows: since they are over 7’ tall, they obscure these windows quite severely. The one at Pacific and Dundas is a particularly egregious example: if I were the business owner whose window is being obstructed in this way, I’d be placing an angry call to my city councillor.” | No | “I am not opposed to advertising on trash bins in general: I will attempt to tune it out as I do all advertising. Indeed, I applaud the city for seeking new sources of income instead of simply raising taxes. However, these bins are badly designed (see my other comments). A bad product is still a bad product, no matter how little it costs.” | “While I laud the city’s attempt to encourage the recycling of cigarette butts, I think the attempt is doomed to failure. Smokers are not the most obedient people: if they were, they’d take the ubiquitous hint and quit. I don’t think they’re going to carry their spent cigarette butts responsibly with them until they can find a suitable recepticle; they’re just going to toss them when they’re finished, as they have always done. Even if they happen to finish a smoke at the exact moment they pass one of the new bins, there’s still no guarantee that they’ll use it: examine the ground in front of the new bins and you will see many spent cigarette butts, alsmost as though smokers are deliberately flouting your attempt. I would favour the continued use of the old bins (horizontal), possibly with a small, unobtrusive canister on the side for butts; I still think that most smokers wouldn’t use them, but at least they’d be there for the responsible ones.” |
| 356 | 08/01/2005 12:52:18 PM | Yes | “Danforth Avenue, near Broadview (on south side) and near Pape (north side)” | No | “People were obviously not getting the point about what went where – the garbage receptacle was overflowing with recyclable materials. The containers are smaller than the receptacles we used to have. In relation to the size of the as space, it looks like a blatent money grab pretending to be a garbage can.” | Yes | I think the position makes people vulnerable late at night – you are unable to see who is behind the garbage sign/box. Anyone could be standing behind there. No garbage can should be taller than an adult human. | No | “I would only be in favour of these if we could be assured that the advertising space would be used only for public service announcements, instead of sales pitches. There are other ways to generate revenue, instead of making our beatiful neighbourhood an ugly marketplace.” | “I want these things out of our neighbourhood. They are highly offensive and show that the city is not very creative in generating revenue. THe previous garbage bins were easy to use and a lot bigger. The new Eucan atrocities are an offensive to our aesthetic sensabilities, a hazard, and a joke.” |
| 357 | 08/01/2005 01:51:32 PM | No | [Blank] | No | Overflowing | Yes | Eyesores | No | See point 6. | “Jul. 28, 2005. 01:00 AM ,The Star’s Joey Slinger echoes my feelings entirely.. here’s his artivle:,Toronto the Trashy pivots on a kingbin of neglect,SLINGER,There are all kinds of things people will do for money. Cities too. Toronto looks as if it’s ready to become a whore.And what could possibly drive a city that until fairly recently stood on a pedestal engraved “Toronto The Good” to the verge of falling so low?,Garbage, that’s what.I have seen the future and it stinks.It is called a MegaBin. You can see one on Danforth Ave. on the south side, east of Broadview, about a hundred steps past the old Music Hall Theatre.That sounds completely ridiculous. It’s like somebody saying, “Mt. Everest? Just go down there past the house with the red roof. It’ll be on your left.”,You don’t need directions. You could stumble around Nepal for months and miss Mt. Everest easier than you could miss a MegaBin.Mt. Everest would have to dominate the landscape hell, it would have to shape the entire geography to come anywhere close to equalling this monstrous contraption.How monstrous is it? It’s so monstrous that when Martians wage war on our world they won’t need a map to find us. They’ll be able to zero in on its shrieking billboards from a thousand light years away.Yet if city council bumbles to the bottom of the hole it has bumbled into, there’ll be 1,500 of them. A Himalayas of recycling containers with 3 million citizens picking their way through the shadowy valleys like befuddled ants.For a few bucks 10 per cent of the revenue from the billboards on their sides will we destroy the city to save it from discarded Tim Hortons cups?,On top of that, for six days the MegaBin on the Danforth was stuffed so megaFull it megaOverflowed. What does it lead us to expect from the hucksters promoting them when they can’t even manage to have their mega-ripoffs emptied while they’re trying to prove how wonderful they are? While they’re showing off?,There’s a term for what’s going on here I forget what it is, but it refers to a medical technique. If you have a sore leg, a sure-fire treatment is to whack you so hard on, say, the shoulder that your shoulder hurts so much you forget about your sore leg.”We want to help make Toronto more clean and beautiful,” says Rolando Garcia, CEO of Eucan, the company that has nothing but our best interests and making millions from advertising income at heart. ,It will do this by setting so many of these enormous, nasty-looking, view-blocking things on our streets (that’s the painful whack on the shoulder) that we’ll stop noticing our pathetic waterfront, our inadequate subways, our dilapidated parks, our mouldering schools, our chewable air (we have lots of sore legs).No wonder city council is enchanted, but city council is no longer in touch with reality.It is so far gone in the mania that is this century’s equivalent of the medieval flagellation cults that the dream of salvation through the separation of wet from dry has fried its mind. ,Anyone who fails to wear the hair shirts council distributes today they take the form of green bins will be eaten by raccoons.Councillors are deaf to everything but quotations from prophets like Eucan.”Smaller footprint” than the filthy, three-slot OMG bins that were such a reeking disgrace. (What about huger eyeprint? What about more than twice as huge?),”Compared to a bus shelter, the MegaBin is shorter, much sleeker, and of course fills an important environmental need.” (Compared to a bus shelter? And keeping you dry when it rains isn’t an important environmental need? Shielding you from the blizzard isn’t?),You’re right, it’s nonsense, but nonsense is the only thing that makes sense at city hall.Eucan bought OMG by the way. OMG’s problem was it couldn’t make enough dough from the billboards on its bins. Eucan has divined the solution: bigger billboards.Toronto has lost maybe not heart, at least not quite yet but its gumption. “The City That Works” is now “The City That No Longer Works Very Well At All.”,It happened because our attitude has become: Why should we clean up our act when every Pied Piper who comes along and offers us a piece of the action is welcome to take a stab at cleaning it up for us?,Do I sound a little incoherent?,I’m a little incoherent.How many city councillors does it take to make Toronto uglier?,--------------------------------------------------------------------------------,Slinger’s column appears Tuesday and Thursday.” |
| 358 | 08/01/2005 02:29:24 PM | Yes | Lawrence and Victoria park | Yes | Takes a bit getting used to but now it makes more sense. | Yes | They look great. | Yes | It would be good to have multiuse bins | [Blank] |
| 359 | 08/01/2005 02:46:30 PM | Yes | Pape and Danforth | Yes | [Blank] | No | I did not think by installing one object on the sidewalk it would be possible to completely obstruct my view of almost the entire city street scape. But these bins have shown it to be possible. | No | I am totally against cheapening my public space by installing these huge billboards for advertising. | “Please install regular garbage and recycling bins, that has one purpose only: to keep garbage and recycling off the street.” |
| 360 | 08/01/2005 05:58:54 PM | Yes | Pape & Danforth + Gough a& Danforth | No | “Very poor indication as to where to put different items. Saw all recyclables mixed in main container. Also, out of four containers (two new bins), three were already overflowing.” | Yes | “They are an eyesore; they are like a wall of advertising. The advertising can only be seen by pedestrians and not motorists. This design is based on advertising use, not convenience of use. They could also be the cause of accidents, as the second container is on the curb. P.S. The only resaon I was aware of the second container on the other side is because I had read about it; otherwise, I would not have known.” | No | “The revenues are extremely important to the City, but not at the cost of installing these eyesores everywhere. The design has to be changed.” | “The designs of the present bins (three containers side by side) is great. If you need additional space for revenues, just make them deeper -the same depth as the new “eyesores”; there would then be four sides for advertising, that could be seen from every angle. They would be easier to use by pedestrians. You could design an ashtray on the top of those bins. The great thing about the present bins is that they are easy to use, and do not look like a wall in front of you. I’m very afraid that byusing the present design, you will destroy the street scape. Go back to the drawing board, design a useful container that can also be used as an advertising board, not an advertsing board that can double as a recycling center. It is the wrong way to do things. Please, do not spoil the street scapes and make us embarassed of living in Toronto. Toronto is a beautiful city; keep in that way,Paul Gauthier,101 Wroxeter Ave,Toronto ON M4J 1E7,[redacted]” |
| 361 | 08/01/2005 06:47:38 PM | Yes | Dundas and Dovercourt | Yes | Worked fine. | Yes | “I like it a lot. We need MORE of them...ALL over the place, so that Torontonions don’t have to think too hard to find a garbage can.” | Yes | “I don’t much like advertising, but I could live with it for MANY MORE garbage containers.” | Nice of you to provide such a clear means to collect feedback from the public! |
| 362 | 08/01/2005 11:01:43 PM | Yes | Queen and Lansdowne | Yes | Nice to have ash trays. | Yes | “It’s silly to have one of the two ‘business’ ends pointing into the street. They should be positioned perpendicular to the street so both ends are useful. Besides being half-wasted because one side is nearly inaccessible, positioning them this way is bound to obstruct sidewalk traffic in more crowded areas like Roncesvalles and Yonge Street.” | Yes | “They seem well-designed and having cigarette dispensers is a pretty big deal. However they need to be turned so both sides can be used. ,I believe strongly that they should not be higher than necessary for using them. They ought to be about half the height they are. ,The advertising doesn’t bother me.” | They’re too big. |
| 363 | 08/01/2005 11:05:51 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | Looks ugly from the picture | No | Smell; attract rodents; block the street. | Stick to a regular pickup. |
| 364 | 08/01/2005 11:47:28 PM | No | “I have seen the bins near Pape & Danforth and Broadview & Danforth, but haven’t used them.” | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | I am very concerned about women’s safety if the city goes ahead with these bins. They are big enough for someone to hide behind. I will not feel at all safe walking past them at night. | No | “I am opposed primarily because of my safety concerns, above, as well as the bins’ general unsightliness. I would be embarrassed of Toronto’s appearance if these new bins went ahead. I am aware of the City’s financial challenges, but this revenue is not worth it.” | Please keep the old ones. |
| 365 | 08/02/2005 12:35:27 AM | Yes | york mills and upjohn | No | “correct height, yes, but not immediately clear what kind of waste goes where.” | Yes | “in some places they are a big obstacle, not only to movement but to seeing the prettier parts of our city.” | No | “Is it too much to ask to have convenient, unobtrusive garbage and recycling bins without giant ads on them? I realize the city gets more revenue, but I don’t feel this is worth it. Part of what is making Toronto an increasingly ugly city is the many ads and billboards, which are unavoidable it seems. I really don’t want to be sold something I don’t need every waking minute. I would be in favour of some restrictions on the amount of public space that can be used for advertisements, and ad-free garbage and recycling bins.” | “Please... try a little harder on this one. Think of what is being sacrificed (including the beauty of the city, which helps attract tourists) just to have a company pay for the bins and give the city a little off the top!” |
| 366 | 08/02/2005 10:51:30 AM | Yes | King and Strachan | Yes | very user-friendly | Yes | “very effective, lots of room for walking” | Yes | it can only be a good thing for the city | [Blank] |
| 367 | 08/02/2005 11:48:01 AM | Yes | “Dundas and Ossington, southeast corner.” | Yes | I would have to say that the different openings were intuitive and about the right height. | Yes | “While there is an advantage to having to different ends to dispose of waste, one side is up against the street, making it useless to pedestrians. As well, the way it is placed (across the sidewalk) makes it a barrier to pedestrians along this narrow and busy sidewalk. It seems as the advertising exposure is more important than function or comfort of those who choose not to drive.” | No | “The way the bin was placed makes it clear that advertising is the only motive for these huge bins. While the current ex-OMG bins have advertising, they are placed parallel to the curb and are not a barrier. I am not against the city making revenue from advertising, but these bins go way too far.” | I only hope that I do not see these monstrosities after the trial period is over. |
| 368 | 08/02/2005 11:50:05 AM | Yes | King and Jameson | No | “Confusing layout. Looked more like a billboard than a garbage can, and as a result, not a place people would think to throw away their trash.” | No | “It takes up too much room, and overlaps onto the sidewalk unnecessarily. And to access the other side, one would have to be on the street.” | No | “We already have too much advertising in our public spaces and these are simply eyesores, and poorly designed. They serve no practical purpose other than as a billboard.” | “Please do not approve these monstrosities. Please preserve at least some of our public space for the people and not the advertisers. These are garbage cans – if they’re not broke, don;t fix them!” |
| 369 | 08/02/2005 11:57:03 AM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 370 | 08/02/2005 12:48:55 PM | Yes | Danforth | No | [Blank] | No | “they are positioned for advertising to cardrivers,and block the sidewalk” | No | “I pay a lot of taxes to live in this neighbourhood,and I would like to see the street scene improved ,with boulevards and planting not advertising panels!,These are not garbage bins-these are advertising panels for car drivers,They are way too BIG and take up too much space. ,The Danforth is a busy place and people come here to enjoy its vibrant sidewalk culture. So why wreck the sidewalk with giant advertisng panels,In places they actually block the view and can be dangerous to use from the road side,Our city is already CLUTTERED with advertising and more advertising will only damage our environment,Will you really get that much money?,As I understand your last deal with this or a similiar company was an embarrassment. They never paid the city any monies. Are they going to collect and dispose of the garbage?,(of interest is the deal with Media com to provide bus shelters- I can’t help but notice bus shelters springing up all over town even in locations like in fornt of the Pizza Pizza at Danforth and Broadview, where you would be lucky to ever see a bus but it is a great place to advertise to cardrivers)” | “The problem with garbage is there is too much.we over consume and waste,As a society we must learn to curb our desire for more “stuff”,and advertising is a big part of the problem it just feeds our passion for over-consumtion” |
| 371 | 08/02/2005 02:55:02 PM | Yes | “Danforth near Jackman,,It is too large and blocks the sidewalk, is the advertising necessary?” | Yes | I am especially pleased to see a cigarette butt disposal spot. | Yes | “A Major complaint about the units size and orientation, it definitely appears to be more concerned about the advertising than it’s use. It should have been orientated in the other direction. And be of minimal size required for its recycling use to perform. Advertising should not be a consideration during the design and not determine its size, merely make use of space made available by thrift design. (reduce is one of the three “R”’s)” | No | “NO, NO, NO,The blockage of the side walks is a major detriment to the enjoyment of our city. If these containers are approved I am sure the public will be questioning the motives of those how have approved them. Although having containers is good, we already have containers. The addition of the cigarette butt disposal is something that could be added to our existing systems/containers which would be a great thing. Our current ones don’t assault the residents of this city by imposing their advertising and impeding their path. I find them quite offensive.” | “1) this survey is anonymous.... it should not be required but I should be invited to “sign” my statements with name etc...2) I am not normally one to complain, but I find these units and the “obvious parameters” about them quite offensive... If this company is so serious about recycling... possibly they could save the use of all the material (environmentally unnecessary) and simply design, provide and install butt collectors onto the existing bins. the would be allowed to advertise on their portion of the bin. ,I sincerely hope this project is looked into and revamped.regards,,Stephen Bardon,[redacted]” |
| 372 | 08/02/2005 03:17:24 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “An addition concern to a previously filled in survey....The current installation method causes users to venture into traffic on the street side of the device. I do not believe the taxpayers of this city are willing to take on that liability.” | “regards,,S.Bardon” |
| 373 | 08/02/2005 03:37:43 PM | Yes | danforth and jackman | Yes | “Let’s be honest, the bins are advertising mediums masquerading as recycling devices.You’d have to be illiterate not to figure out where to put your garbage/recycling.” | No | “the bins are an eyesore that totally ruin your street level view. Our sidewalks are already crowded enough (particularly on Danforth Ave. with benches, trees, bike rings, lamp posts, parking signs, parking ticket dispensers and store owners garbage) The new signs are much too big (to accomodate same size ad posters as TSA’s I suppose) and make the sidewalks less pedestrian friendly.” | No | No amount of advertising revenue can be worth the blight the new bins create on our streets. We need to maintain and encourage the walkability of our sidewalks – these bins make them less friendly. Wouldn’t the bins be ideal places for street thugs to hide behind and accost people on the street. | “Yes, instead of putting up more/uglier bins, the existing recycling bins should be emptied more often. Have you ever tried to throw away garbage on a Sunday night on the Danforth? It’s nearly impossible because the bins are jammed.” |
| 374 | 08/02/2005 03:38:49 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 375 | 08/02/2005 04:00:39 PM | Yes | Broadview and Danforth [Playter] | No | It took two of us a few minutes to figure out where to put our empty plastic bottles. Others were confused too because the garbage section was full of garbage & plastic bottles. Litter & recycleables overflowed on to the sidewalk. | No | “Positioned perpendicular to the street is impractical. People do not see that its a garbage bin until they pass it, and it takes up maximum width on the sidewalk.” | No | Its not worth the advertising revenue. The bins are designed to maximize advertizing space and have not be designed to fit into an urban setting or to encourage use of the bins. *Please* do not adopt them. | “On first seeing one I thought, why have they built a bus shelter on the Danforth? They take up so much precious space, confront the pedestrians with advertizing of an absurd size, block the view down the street and narrow the sidewalk width considerably causing conjestion. Lastly, they don’t look like garbage/recycling bins! If people have to “learn” to use a garbage bin, that should be your first sign that the design is greatly flawed.” |
| 376 | 08/02/2005 05:01:12 PM | Yes | Bloor & Christie | No | “No. The openings were very small and were unableled. In order to see which slot is for what, you have to first read the (blurry and badly printed) legend at the top. Labels should exist next to each slot, like the current multicans.Furthermore I think people from far away would not even know these hideous billboards are trash cans, resulting in more litter.” | Yes | They block sightlines and ruin our city’s beautiful landscape with yet more advertising. Please remove them immediately.Also it is very difficult to see what they are supposed to be unless you go right up to them. Not a good design. | No | Advertising is a harsh reality but there are ways to allow it responsibly and in ways that do not dilute the character of a city and ruin its urban landscape. You already made Yonge Street into a glossy magazine spread full of shiny ads and dumb generic distractions trying to sell things do you have to put giant billboards ON THE SIDEWALK IN FRONT OF ME too? It’s offensive. I’d rather pay more tax. | “I really think the old cans (the 3 slots side by side) were superior in design and profile, and allowed the small ad space the city wants to collect while retaining the appearance of a trash can and yet not blocking sightlines or feeling hulky and oppressive. The new bins are an unfortunate mistake and I hope this test will prove them to be a failure so you can go back to something that complements our lovely city as well as providing adequate waste removal (which there currently isn’t) in our public spaces.” |
| 377 | 08/02/2005 05:23:42 PM | Yes | Bloor West Village | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 378 | 08/02/2005 05:34:03 PM | Yes | “Pape & Danforth, Main & Danforth, Playter & DAnforth ---they are everywhere I go.” | No | Come on. This is obviously advertisement space with small containers on either side for garbage etc -only added in order to get away with HUGE billboards all over the city. 1/2 of the ones I have seen -have garbage spilling out of them. They are so offensive. | Yes | They are unsafe. The block a great deal of the sidewalk. Some are even blocking store fronts like the one I saw in the Junxtion area of Toronto. They are horrible. | No | “Absolutely not. Public Space is public space not space for rent for advertisements. I am really shocked that David Miller, whom I had so much respect for is even considering this.” | “Yes. They must go away & never come back.I’ve yet to meet one person who likes them.” |
| 379 | 08/02/2005 06:18:13 PM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington (approximately) | No | The bins are too small and the bin on the side of the street is too close to the street to stand there. | Yes | Too big... takes up too much space for the tiny amount of garbage it holds. Bins were overflowing when I saw them. Horrible design... only useful for advertising which is NOT cool. | No | The concept is OK but these are too obstrusive... make them a bit smaller and increase the garbage capacity. | “Poorly designed... small capacity, big ads, big sellout.” |
| 380 | 08/02/2005 07:10:47 PM | No | Rncesvalles and Howard Park | No | “Citys quest to prostitute our streets accepting corporate cash is going to get someone killed. The garbage bins are too big, unnecessary and pose a serious safety risk blocking the view. Send the ugly pricks back. It is our street, not some foriegn corp’s. The City will be held liable if you persist. We don’t want them!!!” | No | There going to get someone killed! | No | “Use your frigging noggin, don’t persist with assine questions!” | Get rid of them now!!!! |
| 381 | 08/02/2005 07:44:42 PM | Yes | King Strachan | No | Not really obvious it is anything but a billboard | No | “Far too much of an obstruction. Didn’t the city get rid of parking meters and give getting rid of obstructions as a reason. With more bikes on the sidewalk, these will cause more injuries as they just “appear” in the middle of the sidewalk, rather than being where other objects usually are, closer to the road.” | No | “What happened to the other garbage bins? They were free too, werent they?” | Please get rid of them. |
| 382 | 08/02/2005 09:13:55 PM | Yes | Christie and Bloor | No | It was not clear how to recycle. | Yes | They are tremendous eyesores. Regular trash and recycling can make a lot more sense. | No | The city is overrun with ads as is. | [Blank] |
| 383 | 08/03/2005 01:42:48 AM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 384 | 08/03/2005 02:24:01 AM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington | No | “Capacity looks to be tiny, the labeling is confusing, holes are too small” | Yes | “Terribly. In fact, they seem to block pedestrian traffic – and one end of the bin is always positioned towards the street, meaning it never gets used. These things are trully awful, and as a pedestrian, I can honestly say I revile them.” | No | “See above. That, and the fact that they completly destroy the city’s vistas. I enjoy looking around at my city – these monolithic slabs of advertisements block my view, get in my way, and cheapen my city.” | I fully intend on making this one of my considerations come municipal elections. You are forewarned. |
| 385 | 08/03/2005 06:56:58 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | These are a physical and visual intrusion. Please please do not let this happen to our city. | No | Advertising revenue is no reason to cede our city to these monsterous bins. | “The existing ones are lower to the ground (less visual imapct)and more practical. There is always room for improvement, but this (the equivalent of having coke macj\hines at every street corner)is not one.” |
| 386 | 08/03/2005 09:01:59 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | I haven’t used. | No | I’ve not seen them to date. | Yes | [Blank] | More garbage bins is fantastic and more money going to the city is great as well. I would like to know where the money would be going to. however. |
| 387 | 08/03/2005 09:29:15 AM | Yes | Jane north of St Clair | No | One side faced the street – was hard to reach. | Yes | One side is useless – faces the street. | No | “The bins are too tall. Why can’t they be the height of the old bins, just with more convenient garbage receptacles? The old bins seemed to provide plenty of ad space, they were just really annoying to use.” | no |
| 388 | 08/03/2005 10:01:14 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No opinion | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 389 | 08/03/2005 10:12:03 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 390 | 08/03/2005 10:46:08 AM | Yes | Danforth Ave. and Gough Ave. | No | “Although there is legend describing the layout of the receptacle openings, each opening should be labelled as well, so that quick passers-by can recycle effectively in haste...My first view of the bin was at eye-level -- approximately where most of the openings are located. Lack of labelling meant an additional step -- glancing up at the layout for effective use of the bin. This step could be eliminated if openings are labelled with text or symbols.” | Yes | “The bins are positioned well so that the billboard is well visible from both directions of pedestrian traffic. However, there could be some clear indicators as to where the receptacle openings are located (arrows, text, etc.).” | Yes | “However, with basic design principles in mind, the function of the bins should command the viewer’s attention above all else. Advertising is possible but should not distract the user from the intended purpose of the bins.” | “I think that they are a great idea! My suggestions above pertain to the user-friendliness of the design; the design should account for all types of users. Sustainable living is of concern to me, so I actually stopped to take a careful look at the bin when I first used it...others (especially those in a hurry) may not be so inclined. Hence, I think that the design should make both function and instruction as clear as possible.” |
| 391 | 08/03/2005 10:57:26 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “These bins are ridiculously oversized and positioned, at least the one on Bathurst and College, right in the way of people walking on the sidewalk.” | No | “The city should not compromise it’s public space this much for revenue. The ads are huge and difficult to ignore, and the bins, if they light up, will be an unecessary waste of electricity. The old bins, while still sporting ads, are at least less obtrusive.” | “Please, please, please take them away.Thanks,,Erin Smith,[redacted]” |
| 392 | 08/03/2005 11:42:11 AM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 393 | 08/03/2005 11:43:59 AM | Yes | bathurst and college | Yes | [Blank] | No | They obstruct the sidewalk a bit. Perhaps this design could be built into bus shelters? | No | “The revenue is not worth the clutter on the street, and the energy (electricity) use of the units.” | I’d be open to them if they were incorporated into a a bus shelter or something – right now they are advertising first and garbage collection second. |
| 394 | 08/03/2005 12:07:43 PM | Yes | Bloor & Christie | Yes | “The instructions were a little convoluted, and I don’t think we’re used to not having to sort recycling materials yet, but it would be easy to get used to.” | Yes | “It wouldn’t matter where these monstrosities were positioned, they would always be in the way. 7 x 5 feet?! That’s ridiculous. When I first heard about this pilot project I wasn’t impressed with the prospect of even more ads being shoved down our throats, but the sheer size of these things is worse than I ever thought it would be. Especially the one at Bloor/Christie -- it’s right out in the middle of the sidewalk -- I moved roughly 30 ft. away from it and still couldn’t see past it down the street. Ridiculous.” | No | “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with the current crop of waste bins that we have around the city. They are, for the most part, unobstrusive, and could even be redesigned to reflect the switch over to not having to sort recycling. If this company wnats to sell ad space they can continue to do it with these smaller bins -- but these new ones are laughably huge. I can’t believe the city is even considering them.” | “Just a reiteration that the sheer size of these new bins makes them completely unacceptable for use in this (or any) city. Aside from being sheer visual pollution, they make navigation difficult and could pose a safety risk for people who use wheelchairs or scooters to navigate the sidewalk. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it -- there’s nothing wrong with the current bins, and I hope that for once common sense and civic pride will over come greed and council will reject this deal.” |
| 395 | 08/03/2005 01:01:50 PM | Yes | Danforth & Playter Blvd. | No | the unit is too close to the edge of the road...I had garbage and of course the one side was full & overflowing...so had to use the other side...but it is way too close to the road...specially I wouldn’t want my young kids putting gargabe on that side...the recycling slot is too hard to put newspaper into | Yes | BADDDDDDDD....very dangerous for young kids...takes up too much sidewalk space...the current set up is just too imposing | No | “already too much advertising everywhere...already very overwhelming that ,I just learn & try very hard to block them, hence no longer effective?” | maybe do another test with the same bins by repositioning them to be parallel to the streets & roads instead |
| 396 | 08/03/2005 01:30:27 PM | No | Pacific and Dundas | No | Why can’t we get flap-less openings with a hood to protect it from rain rather than these flaps that get filthy and un-touchable? | No | They are awfully big and block vision. I’m not sure that they aren’t potentially dangerous. I’d be leery of walking past them late at night. | No | “They could be much better designed to serve both functions (advertising and litter prevention), and still not be a hiding place for muggers.” | See above about flaps that get dirty deterring people from using the trash cans. They also need to be emptied and cleaned more often. |
| 397 | 08/03/2005 02:04:40 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | I’ve seen them and they seem an improvement | Yes | It’s a win win. It has to be ironclad though that the city does get money and they don’t charge for the bins | [Blank] |
| 398 | 08/03/2005 02:24:25 PM | Yes | Bloor & Windermere and a number of other areas I have seen them. | No | tiny holes to dipose of your garbage as well capacity extra small. | Yes | Too hulking big. Sidewalks are already narrowed down. These guys are an enormous eye sore. Too much!!! | No | “Sorry but there has to be a better way for the City to raise funds. These bins are enormous and the actual garbage part small. They will over flow and our streets will look even worse! People will stick garbage in any hole. They won’t recycle or recycle properly. It’s just so tacky that our city is up for “sale”. If it’s not our buses that are used for advertising dollars, now it’s our already narrowed sidewalks with these bins. So little is done to even keep our streets nice looking, these bins are TERRIBLE.” | Don’t do it. People will not recycle properly and the graffiti morons will have a field day with all that area to draw on. |
| 399 | 08/03/2005 02:50:14 PM | Yes | Markham and Ellesmere | No | “The old bins have each recepticle labelled – with text, an icon and colour coding. The new bins have a diagram which must be consulted to determine which recepticle is needed. Not only is this needlessly complicated, it also makes the bins more confusing for those who do not speak English.” | Yes | They obstruct the pestestrians’ view of the street. They’re too tall to see over. They’re visually unappealing and make Toronto seem very commercial. If I were a tourist I would not be impressed. | No | “The bins would require electricity to stay lit every night – we are already using too much power. I certainly hope that the advertiser paid to move and store the old bins. I think they should have to pay for putting the old bins back.If the city needs more revenue, then the province should raise taxes on businesses and pass the money along.” | “The old bins were garbage/recycling bins that carried advertising. The new bins are billboards that have had garbage collection added as an afterthought. In my experience the garbage recepticle is ofter overflowing by early afternoon.Also, I don’t know a single smoker who will even bother to carry their cellophane or empty pack to a garbage can (even when it’s right in front of them). I don’t think that they would bother to drop their ashes in these bins.Please put the old bins back. They’re great. They put the needs of their users first. I don’t mind a bit of advertising around the sides, but not if it requires electricity or blocking my view of the road.Also, please put more bins in!” |
| 400 | 08/03/2005 03:32:04 PM | Yes | Bloor & Christie | No | Opening is only on the small ends of the bin. Opening for garbage should be more easily accessible from a larger area. | Yes | The bins take up too much room and visual space. It seems to be located in an area designed to be seen by drivers rather than to be most practical for use as a garbage bin. | No | “The government of Canada is currently encouraging a reduction of engery consumption by individuals and businesses to meet Kyoto requirements. Power generation creates a great deal of greenhouse gasses which are causing global warming. It is blatantly irresponsible for the City of Toronto to be encouraging businesses to use more electricity, and by doing so, also setting a power-wasting example for Toronto residents. The power used by these bins is clearly not essential, but is instead excessive.” | “The garbage bins do not look like garbage bins – disguised from tourists looking for a place to put their garbage. They unneccessarily use electricity when conservation is a priority. They are too big and their big size does not increase their accessibility, it decreases it. Bins will be placed with a priority on visibility rather than practical use as a garbage bin. It seems the city wishes to cover every existing surface with advertising and create more surfaces to make a buck. There are better trash options available.... ones that won’t make the city a more visually noisy place.” |
| 401 | 08/03/2005 04:06:17 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “While individuals depositing recycling in this bins may have the best intentions, what considerations, have been given to clean up possible items that fall on the ground?” | “I hope that these bins are not in lieu of curb pick-up. If so, people would possibly divert back to throughing items that could be recycled into regular waste.” |
| 402 | 08/03/2005 05:01:02 PM | Yes | Dundas & Ossington | Yes | straigtforward to use | Yes | “Good-- but it would make more sense to put the bins closer to the streetcar stop on Dundas or the Bus stop on Ossigton. That way people with cigarette buts would be more inclined to deposit them in the bin rather than on the ground. Also-- the directionality of the bin--- currently the bin is placd perpendicular to the street, and the side close to the street is hard to access to throw out garbage. The bin should be placed parallel to the street so that pedestrian traffic approaching from both directions can deposit waste. (Ads can also be viewed by passing motorists--not just pedestrians)” | Yes | Yes--- a good plan. More bins = less litter. More advertising is slightly annoying but I’d rather have the garbage cleaned up. | [Blank] |
| 403 | 08/03/2005 06:12:00 PM | Yes | Sheppard & 404 | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They BLOCK view, are an eyesore, far too large. They are also located too far from the bus shelter to be practical for those who wait.” | No | They are still too big. Advertising revenues are not worth all the eye polution. | “Try something smaller, then the advertising may be acceptable.” |
| 404 | 08/03/2005 06:57:29 PM | Yes | “Victoria Park and Kingston Road, Woodbine and Danforth, etc.” | No | “I would not have realized this was even a garbage container if it hadn’t been for the poster on it. Once those are replaced by standard commercial advertisements, many people will pass by these structures without even being aware that they’re more than billboards. The current Eucan trash/recycling containers are immediately recognizable as trash receptacles, but the new ones devote so much more of the structure to advertising than function that they appear merely to be billboards.” | Yes | “All the ones I’ve seen are at right angles to the sidewalk, which puts one receptacle easily accessible from the sidewalk and the other facing the street. This side might be accessible to passing cars, should they want to take advantage of it, but is really out of reach of pedestrians. Some units, such as the one at Vic. Park & Kingston, are on wider areas of sidewalk and are set back a metre or so from the street.” | No | “This is a terrible design. I was prepared for an increased advertising space on the new units, but these are simply transit shelter advertising without the shelter, concealing the trash/recycling purpose almost completely. The City should stick with the existing model of trash/recycling bins, which seem to integrate into the cityscape quite successfully, and are obviously much used by pedestrians.” | “I understood that this test would be a small-scale one with only a small number deployed across the city. But obviously there must be a considerable number in use already, as I’ve seen three in my neighbourhood this week.” |
| 405 | 08/03/2005 07:31:17 PM | Yes | consumer road and brian | No | each window should be label in front rather than size | Yes | “it is too close to the curb which block the sight of vehicle for turn right.During the winter, that position definately will be piled up by snow.” | No | City install too many of such free standing which really confuse the driver to read the traffic sign. | “Such bin are blocking the view particular in NOT bright street and corner of the crossing.It just an opposit position to the police prevent crime chamgaion to light your front door.Safety should TOP of city’s revenue.” |
| 406 | 08/03/2005 07:37:38 PM | Yes | Danforth Ave. just west of Pape | Yes | ““Easy to understand”? It’s a garbage can, not algebra. As for practicality, the garbage portion of it is practical, the huge advertising portion of it is not.” | Yes | “These things are way too big and command too much attention. I can’t look down the street anymore because these things block my view. In Question 3 you ask if I’m aware that garbage is collected at both sides of the bin, That’s great to know if I happen to be standing in the middle of the street to access the opposite side.” | No | “They are ugly and very impractical, in comparison to a normal garbage gan. Its size is such a put-off, especially since it’s only big in order to accomodate the advertising space. What’s next? Eight foot tall mailboxes? Ten foot tall parking meters? Newspaper boxes the size of the old OMG garbage cans?,Please don’t think I’m being “anti-advertising” (I work in advertising as a copywriter.) I just don’t think putting these things on the street is very attractive.” | “These alleged “garbage bins” look like bus shelters without the shelter. Why not convert bus shelters so that they have this feature instead of sticking up these illuminated walls all over the place?” |
| 407 | 08/04/2005 12:07:14 AM | No | But stopped to look at one at Danforth and Broadview | No | “The instructions and icons on the wide “advertisement” sides were clear, but not immediately obvious as to their connection: As a passerby looking to dispose of something in the bins you look near the openings only, and there were no clear/obvious instructions or even labels at all on the thin opening side. Our group did not see at first what each opening was meant for, and apparently most users did not take the time to look around as items had not been deposited in the correct openings.” | No | “The street-facing opening was not practical: While the openings on the sidewalk-side were overflowing, no one seemed to have been using – noticed, or bothered to move to – the street-side openings. Even if people were to notice this, it is not very convenient or comfortable to access.” | Yes | “I think what would be great, and what would help win over any opposition towards this, is to dedicate the revenue received from this advertising space towards litter clean-up and or the Clean City initiative.” | “In general, I think that they are great, especially the cigarette butt component. Comments:,- instructions/labels need to be more obvious while very quickly and easily understandable,- extra resources should be invested in increasing use of the cigarette butt disposal,- all openings must be easily accessible to those walking by on the sidewalk,- perhaps an increase in capacity (as the one I saw was overflowing)” |
| 408 | 08/04/2005 09:18:17 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 409 | 08/04/2005 09:24:36 AM | Yes | Sheppard & Brian Drive | Yes | “I hesitated at first because there were no symbols immediately above each opening, as there was in the old-style recycle bins. But the diagram above the receptacles was easy enough to understand.” | Yes | “I don’t like how high they are, it cuts off my view of the road, depending on where I am standing at the nearby bus stop. In fairness, road visibility was obviously taken into consideration, as they placed it in as unobstusive a spot as its monstrous size permits; however, they had to place it an inconvenient distance from the bus stop. I have to wonder how useful or convenient people will find it; people being the way they are, they’ll likely just throw their garbage on the ground, or into the old plastic garbage can by the bus shelter... which doesn’t have recycling bins on it.” | No | “While I understand the city is strapped for cash, I feel quite strongly that this is the wrong way to go, if it means putting up rather large trash bins which are really not much more than glorified roadside ads.” | “In all honesty, I wish that I *did* like them. They are free, after all, and we do need to make sure there are many, well-maintained garbage bins throughout the city. But for the life of me, I can’t think of how something so terribly large could be made more accceptible.” |
| 410 | 08/04/2005 11:48:38 AM | Yes | Pape and Danforth | Yes | “Everything was fine for me, but a shorter individual such as a child might have trouble with the rcycling part.” | Yes | My guess is that the side facing the street won’t see that much use. | No | I would be in favour of the city installing these bins if the design was a bit better. The garbage compartment needs to have a bigger capacity. | If the city goes forward with these bins at least some of them should be devoted to posters explaining that cigarette butts should be deposited in them. Cigarette butts are the most prevelant form of litter in the city. This is because smokers seem to have the notion that the world is their ashtray – or that one butt doesn’t cause any harm. But the they add up. So these ashtrays need to be used. That message needs communicated |
| 411 | 08/04/2005 12:40:22 PM | Yes | “Queen Street West, west of Jameson, south side.” | No | “Day after Caribana, the **very small** garbage receptacles were overflowing, but no one seemed to realize that there was a recycling option, as the garbage section was full of bottles and cans. The directions are not clear, and the cigarette butt containers were empty, even though the sidewalk was covered in used butts – this container is located outside a bar, so there are lots of smokers around the general vicinity.” | Yes | “They’re too big, they take up valuable sidewalk space on an area that is already conjested and in the winter, the street side bins are going to be impossible to access if there are snowbanks, so half of the capacity will be lost.” | No | “There is too much advertising on our streets already. Those awful bus shelters with the clear roofs (what exactly are those supposed to shelter us *from* anyway???) are bad enough. The city needs to find some other way to create revenue without clogging up the sidewalks with even more ads. At the very least, let’s put the work of local artists on these things if we absolutely must have them.” | “Yes – please get rid of them!! They’re an eyesore, people can’t seem to figure out how to use them correctly, they don’t even hold a decent amount of garbage, and they clutter up the streetscape. There’s nothing wrong with the big silver bins (not the media-owned ones with the dirty flaps over the openings) – they hold a lot of garbage and they’re easy to use. Can’t we please start to think about these decisions with the people of the city, not its budget, in mind?” |
| 412 | 08/04/2005 01:02:49 PM | Yes | Queen & Jameson | No | “The labeling of the various openings is confusing. The garbage bins are too small, and were overflowing with trash. Much of the trash was recyclable material, making me think that other people found the labelling just as unclear as I did.” | Yes | “Very badly positioned. In order to access the recepticles on the street side of the bin, one has to stand almost in the street. In the winter, I expect that the street side will be impossible to access due to snowbanks.” | No | “These bins are poorly designed. They appear to be billboards with the garbage collection functionality added as an afterthought. Our city needs less advertising in our streetscape, not more.” | [Blank] |
| 413 | 08/04/2005 01:18:21 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles and Howard Park | No | [Blank] | Yes | “I think that they are a blight. Please do not implement this program. When I first saw the bin, I thought that someone had dumped an ATM in the middle of the sidewalk.” | No | “These bins are ugly, disruptive to pedestrian traffic, and not very functional. Whatever pecuniary benefits the city would recieve is vastly outweighed by the aethetic sacrifice and impairment to pedestrian traffic.” | Please eliminate them. It is a ridiculous program. There must be another way for the city to raise money without causing such an intolerable disruption to the cityscape. |
| 414 | 08/04/2005 01:24:49 PM | Yes | Queen St W | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Too close to curb, will get blocked by snow in winter.” | No | “Not used properly, old ones are better, these are embarassing to the city.” | Do not implement them! |
| 415 | 08/04/2005 01:29:21 PM | Yes | Bathurst and College | Yes | clear | Yes | “too big, what an eyesore.” | No | “The city does NOT need more advertising, get real. Please make garbage bins that collect only refuse (including recycling etc), and doesn’t try and sell me shoes.” | [Blank] |
| 416 | 08/04/2005 01:29:31 PM | Yes | Bathurst & college | No | “It looked like you could put recyclabes, garbage AND cigarette butts into the same slot. The slots aren’t very big, and didn’t seem to be able to hold all that much garbage.” | Yes | “The horizontal placement means that it will take up precious sidewalk space once winter rolls around. When people clear the sidewalk, they will have to move around it and the side further away from the curb will be completely blocked by snow and become unusable. I think if the billboards were turned around, it could be more useful.” | Yes | “If it helps the city gain more revenue, I am in favour of it.” | “Turn the billboards around to take up less space on the sidewalks, and make the recepticles larger.” |
| 417 | 08/04/2005 01:32:35 PM | Yes | “Along Eglinton Ave, I think from Bathurst to Allen Rd.?” | No | “At the time that I saw it, I was on the bus. The problem is that I was able to fully see one entire side of the garbage can. For a pedestrian, really, the only person who’d use it, if they can’t access one of the two sides of the garbage can, then what’s the point? It would get even worse during the winter with the piling of snow. The bins seemed useless, and were pretty badly planned out. The current existing ones work much better.” | Yes | “It’s positioned really badly. I’m sure my 10 year old cousin could do better than this. Logic dictates that garbage bins are used mostly by walking pedestrians, not driving commuters. What use does a guy driving down on Queen Street have for a garbage can or recycling bin that faces him? It would be better if the bins were parallel to the street and not perpendicular, it just makes ABSOLUTELY no sense currently; it’s just a cheap way to get drivers to notice the ads.” | No | “I’m no crazy, left-winging hippie, but really, this IS the destruction of public space for the sake of getting a few more dollars off advertising dollars. The garbage cans seem as if they were just mere afterthoughts, and that advertising was the main purpose. The holes were small, inadequate and badly positioned in relation to the walking pedestrian, and the entire concept smacks of cheap ways of raising revenue. The current designs of garbage bins work much more efficiently and are not such an eyesore on the urban landscape and are more useful to the pedestrian. Even if the city made a little more money off of this, it should not auction off our collective land just for the sake of extra revenue. We’re better than this and we deserve better than this.” | “I humbly recommend that the city does not accept these newly-”designed” garbage/recycling bins. They don’t work in the interest of the pedestrian, nor for the public as a whole. If it doesn’t serve its function as a garbage can properly, and that IS its function, not an advertising tool, then what’s the point? Find a better designed garbage can, or revert back to the old ones. These new ones suck. I hope you take these comments into consideration. Thank you.” |
| 418 | 08/04/2005 01:33:18 PM | Yes | “queen west, past dufferin on the west, but I’m not totally sure where.” | No | “I know that Caribana happened and all, but people totally ignored it, especially the cigarette thingy.” | Yes | “There is no way these things could be put on the sidewalk to *not* interfere with pedestrian’s usage; they block views and act like a wall. Garbage cans are supposed to be noticeable, so you can find them, but discreet – not a dominant feature of the streetscape.” | No | “I think they look atrocious. Toronto already has far too much ad pollution happening, and these just make it worse. Dundas Square looks awful; and I disagree terribly with the city selling out the taxpayer’s eyes to avoid spending our taxes on the sort of thing they’re supposed to pay for.I can guarantee that these things will be graffiti magnets, and will look horrible in a year.” | “Please, don’t force this on us (and I assure you, it *is* forcing it on us)” |
| 419 | 08/04/2005 01:44:27 PM | No | Queen West | No | [Blank] | Yes | “it’s far too tall, and destroys the look of the street.” | No | “there is already too much advertising downtown. by making it this high, you’re creating dangerous blind spots, and ruining the look of the street.” | the current silver bins are fine – please leave well enough alone and don’t ruin our city in some sick advertising dollar cash grab!!! |
| 420 | 08/04/2005 01:51:04 PM | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “As a transit user the bins block the sight,of oncoming traffic making it difficult to,see a bus in the distance.” | No | “These bins are an eyesore on the landscape.They are nothing more than street level,billboards. Garbage and recycling bins can,be just as efficient without the advertising.” | Get rid of them |
| 421 | 08/04/2005 01:58:06 PM | Yes | Bathurst and College | No | It took more than 10 seconds for me to figure out what went where. That is too much time if you want someone to use a litterbin instead of the sidewalk. The openings also seem too small. How will children dispose of their recyclables if the opening is too high? | Yes | The side facing the street will be useless when it snows or there is street construction. | No | I think these litterbins are much worse than the ones currently in use and they are UGLY! | Larger openings for garbage. Larger receptacle. Clearer signage for sorting of waste. |
| 422 | 08/04/2005 01:58:38 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | They will be hard to access the side facing the curb once winter begins because of the snow piling up. | No | We are bombarded by advertisments on the TTC already. | They are too small. It will lead to more trash discarded on the ground. The recycling and cigarette features are hardly noticeable. There is nothing wrong with our current silver garbage bins. |
| 423 | 08/04/2005 01:59:47 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | “Good grief, they are hideous and huge and block the way like an ugly marauding refrigerator.” | No | “First off, these things are a blight on the urban landscape.Secondly, did we not get new garbage/recycle bins with advertising on them a few years ago? I remember the promises then, how ad revenue would pay for upkeep and they would be kept “sanitised” and “spotless.” This never happened. They are filthy and most have giveaway public service ads. It didn’t work last time, why make the same mistakes again only worse?” | “A garbage can that is seven feet high has too much wasted space. Unless you have found a way to reverse gravity so that the garbage fills the top half, there is no need to have garbage cans this tall.Also, when the new TTC shelters were installed, we were told that they were specially designed to be all glass with gaps at the bottom so that no one would be able to hid behind them effectively. These garbage cans are practically designed for hiding behind, and are a detriment to public safety.” |
| 424 | 08/04/2005 02:00:39 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | “Unclear which was recycling, WAY too small. It was overflowing with garbage every time I walked by.” | Yes | “They take up too much room, impede traffic, and one side will be completely inaccessible during winter once the snow piles up. The old garbage bins worked just fine; if the city wants bigger advertisements, just put up a billboard, don’t crowd the sidewalk with poster “garbage bins”.” | Yes | “The more garbage bins the better, just put them out of the way, and get a bigger design. More space for litter and clearer marking of where recycling should go.” | “If Toronto needs anything, it’s more recycling for PAPER products. Most litter seems to be newspapers.And the cigarette disposal is entirely pointless. No smoker would stop walking, just to make sure to put their butt in the bin. It’s much easier to flick it into the street, and nothing is stopping them from doing that.” |
| 425 | 08/04/2005 02:01:31 PM | [Blank] | McCowan and Finch | Yes | “BUT they were full, they seem too small” | No | i think that the side facing the street is impractical for Toronto Winters | No | “i think they need to be modified...i preferred the model just before these, they were large, clearly labeled for garbage and reyclables and still had room for advertising on either side” | need more room for garbage NOT advertising |
| 426 | 08/04/2005 02:06:06 PM | Yes | College and Bathurst | No | The bins appear to have insufficient capacity. | Yes | they obstruct my view and pollute the landscape with more unnecessary advertising. | No | I find them to be eyesores. | Get rid of them. The sooner the better. |
| 427 | 08/04/2005 02:09:52 PM | No | Haven’t seen one yet. | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | “I think these bins are a great idea. The City needs far more waste recepticals. One thing that I, as a smoker have found especially frustrating is the lack of appropriate bins for butts.I think the no smoking by-law is great, I have no problem smoking outside but find it annoying that there is no safe place to deposit cigarette butts. It would be nice if restaurants and bars were required to provide proper large butt disposal units outside their premises. The new bins are a step in the right direction but... (see below)” | “My only concern it that the much needed additional revenue generated by these new bins would be spent on the increased power needed to light them.Given the increased power usage this summer which created concern of power outages, do we really need to create more sources of unnecessary power use? I don’t think so.I think it is the responsiblity of the City to set an example and demonstrate power conservation.” |
| 428 | 08/04/2005 02:10:33 PM | Yes | Queen and Landsdowne | No | The openings are small and hard to see. | Yes | They take up too much space. | No | “These bins are a terrible addition to Toronto’s already awful array of street furniture. They are not really “garbage/recycling bins”, they are street-level billboards. The streets of Toronto are ugly enough without the city wilfully making them worse.” | “Please DO NOT approve these bins. If you do, I predict a campaign of revolutionary vandalism against these horrible bins.” |
| 429 | 08/04/2005 02:10:57 PM | Yes | Don Mills & Eglinton | No | The bins for garbage are far too small and the recycling bin is hard to see. | Yes | “When winter comes, only one half of the bin will be accessable. If it were any closer to the street, drivers and cyclist would not be able to see around the corner.” | No | “1. We already have enough advertising;,2. The bins we have are good enough;,3. Control would be placed in the hands of corporations and not the City.” | These seem to be designed from the ground up as a vehicle for advertising. Using the monoliths as garbage recepticles seems to be an afterthought. |
| 430 | 08/04/2005 02:10:57 PM | Yes | Queen West | No | The container is too small. Advertising is ugly and seems to be the primary focus. | No | I think they will be hard to access during periods of snowfall and when there is snow plow buildup. | No | I personally like the existing bins. I do not support advertising as a way to make a token profit. | “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” |
| 431 | 08/04/2005 02:11:23 PM | Yes | Queen Street | No | Too small | No | Quite large and obtrusive | No | “I am quite against the visual pollution that these add to our city. Whilst they may be effective marketing tools, there design as garbage/recycling is inneffective, due to the small size of the receptacles.” | [Blank] |
| 432 | 08/04/2005 02:12:26 PM | Yes | Don Mills & Lawrence | No | “The bins were tiny, cluttered and not all features (i.e. recycling area) were easy to use.” | Yes | “They’re overly large, clunky, obstructive, unattractive and futile at collecting the amount of garbage Toronto would generate.” | No | “They’re overly large, clunky, obstructive, unattractive and futile at collecting the amount of garbage Toronto would generate. No matter how free they are, installing something that would ensure continued littering, be potentially hazardous (i.e. fire, disease, etc.) and distracting to drivers would be purile and a blatant cash grab by the government.” | “The older garbage bins with three containers and billboard advertising on the front and back work just fine. If you need to find an “update” to that, think similar and don’t go for such a large, unuseful product.” |
| 433 | 08/04/2005 02:18:33 PM | Yes | Queen West | No | It’s a garbage bin...why are the bins so small? Labeling is unclear also | Yes | “TOO BIG. ,TOO UGLY.Way to give into the marketing scum bags.” | No | “Stop the insanity!!!,Marketers are the new lawyers. ,They should all be stopped.” | “UGLY. ,DISFUNCTIONAL.I HATE YOU.” |
| 434 | 08/04/2005 02:20:52 PM | Yes | king west and strachan (I think) | No | was very confusing trying to figure out what went where – the older receptacles seem much easier to understand. | Yes | As a pedestrian I thought it way too big – another obstacle on the sidewalk to try to get around. I also thought the height was overkill. It was disconcerting trying to see past it to the streetcar. | No | I don’t think advertising money should be seen as a saviour – advertising is a type of pollution in its own right. I also think that the more messages you put out there the less people will pay attention to ANYTHING – including street signs. | I really think the height is the biggest problem. We need garbage receptacles – not billboards – on the sidewalks. |
| 435 | 08/04/2005 02:59:10 PM | Yes | Jane & Steeles | No | Openings too small and inaccessable. | Yes | [Blank] | No | “The design is flawed. The “garbage/recycling bin” part of it seems to be an afterthought. It’s all about the advertising.” | There has to be a better way. |
| 436 | 08/04/2005 03:31:20 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | “It’s a confusing, ugly design that does not fit in with the character of our city streets. And the giant billboards on the side are ridiculous.” | Yes | “They’re terrible! They’re inconvenient and are clearly designed to maximize the number of people who will see the ads (esp. those in cars), when they should be positioned in a way that will facilitate pedestrian usage.” | No | “What a loaded, unfair question. You’re trying to use the prospect of more money for the city to influence people’s decisions. How much money? And how much will they generate in advertising revenue for the company providing them?) Why not just ask if people like them? That’s a rhetorical question: you and I both know that no one would say they like them.” | “GET RID OF THEM IMMEDIATELY. Isn’t it possible to collect garbage without making the city more ugly through increased advertising? If you answer “no”, then you’re not trying hard enough. This is an awful idea. The old garabage bins were bad, but these are simply billboards disguised as garabage receptacles. The collection of garbage is an afterthought to the advertising aspect. City council should ban these things without a moment’s hesitation. I expect more from my elected officials, and I will remember this come the next election. Thank you for listening to my opinion.” |
| 437 | 08/04/2005 03:39:59 PM | Yes | “Yes, Actually, at Bathurst and College” | No | “No, you have to sort of circle around it to figure out where to put what” | No | “They take up too much space, and actually block the sidewalk” | No | “No, the old bins with advertising were bad enough. Ironically, the ancient City of Toronto bins stood up better to abuse than those. Can’t our garbage cans just be garbage cans?” | “I know the city is hard up for money, but this is an insult to taxpayers.” |
| 438 | 08/04/2005 03:44:08 PM | Yes | “bathurst and college,lesmill and york mills” | No | “the short cans are much easier to use, i found it annoying to use these ones.” | No | I hate it. They interrupt the flow of your movement through the space. | No | “They are really hideous – they are invasions of public space, they are unnecessary additional advertising space and they reflect badly on toronto as a world class city. please preserve our public space!!!” | Get rid of the ones we have and don’t get any more. |
| 439 | 08/04/2005 03:52:36 PM | Yes | Somewhere along queen west. | No | “It looks pretty simple, but by the amount of litter that was surrounding the bin (PILES of garbage to be more accurate), it must not have been understood by everyone.” | Yes | How can a garbage bin can justify so much public space? These bins are very large and take up a lot of walking room. | No | “To travel via Toronto’s sidewalks is difficult. Various factors like people, bikes, skateboards, strollers, wheelchairs, transit stops, newspaper boxes, etc... take up much of the existing space. I don’t understand how Toronto will receive anything benificial by further clogging up the streets.” | “Overall, these bins are poorly designed, hardly functionable, and simply gross.” |
| 440 | 08/04/2005 03:54:11 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles & Boustead | No | “Very confusing. Too many different places to put things, labels aren’t attached directly to the openings, but on the poster-style instruction sheet at the top. Took too long to figure out what everything was and where it should go.” | No | “They’re sort of intimidating, actually. They take up a lot of space.” | No | “They will be major eye-sores on the street. We’re a city that’s just launched ‘Live with Culture’, not ‘Live with Giant Behemoth Confusing Garbage/Recycling Bins’. They are ugly, unwelcoming and intimidating. I think they are 100% a bad design idea.” | “To recap: They’re ugly. They’re far too tall. They aren’t labelled clearly enough. They suit advertising means admirably, but they’re a COMPLETE disaster in terms of efficient recycling/clean streets.” |
| 441 | 08/04/2005 03:58:16 PM | Yes | Queen West | No | All bins were full to the brim – such small bins! The butt container wasn’t clear at all. | Yes | “I think they’re a disgusting eyesore. You can’t see past them, which makes me think they are dangerous as well. We have enough advertising in this city, we don’t need these monsters on every corner, cluttering our vision.” | No | “Next we will be putting advertisments on the sidewalks and on the desks of elementary school students – where does the line get drawn? These are public spaces, I for one would rather have a tax increase. I don’t understand what’s wrong with the old boxes anyway!” | “crap them, please.I think the fact that the city even considers these monoliths is disgusting.” |
| 442 | 08/04/2005 04:09:07 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “I took a look at them and didn’t think it was very clear what went where- I think it should be labelled on the actual “hole” for each item itself so you don’t have to consult the “map” above.” | No | [Blank] | No | “Our city is not for sale. We’ve got enough advertising everywhere! The old garbage bins had ads on them, no? Aren’t they sufficient?” | No one wants a garbage bin that is a giant billboard. We want garbage bins that are LESS obvious. Plus I very much resent the encroachment of commercial interests on every tiny corner of public space. |
| 443 | 08/04/2005 04:10:26 PM | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 444 | 08/04/2005 04:15:29 PM | Yes | bathurst & college | Yes | [Blank] | No | they are imposing – far too large – block the view. | No | “absolutely not. The advertisements on the box are too large. I resent,having to look at these sidewalk billboards.” | I think the height and the commercial advertisements together make these bins offensive and I do not want to see them on the streets of my city. |
| 445 | 08/04/2005 04:16:31 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles | No | it was very confusing and i found the openings to be small | No | “they’re intrusive, and how much more of our public space needs to be sold off for commercial interests? if the ad space were to be used as a community bulletin, then that’d be informative” | No | “i understand the need for alternative revenue-generation ideas, must the ad be so large???” | “instead of letting big corporate interests, how about targetting local businesses? or the idea of a community bulletin? the company that gets this contract should be happy that they have the contract and in return, they should give this space for free!” |
| 446 | 08/04/2005 04:16:37 PM | Yes | Danforth between Broadview and Chester | No | the end that was pointing towards the sidewalk was overflowing. | Yes | The empty end was pointed towards the street and was not used at all. I am guessing that this was done (instead of both ends parallel to the sidewalk) because the adverts needed to be pointed a certain way (i.e. in the faces of everyone who passes the bins). | No | “Please, I will pay more taxes if we can avoid having to have these abominations put on our beautiful streets.” | “If we must use these bins, no part of the structure should go past 5” in height. It is appalling that when walking down the sidewalk, all I can see is a giant looming sign instructing me to buy something I don’t want.” |
| 447 | 08/04/2005 04:32:06 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | The garbage/recycling bins are all advertising with little space to put in litter and not much capacity | Yes | Obtrusive. They are in the way and I do not frankly want to look at more advertising. They are garrish. | No | It is sad that there has been such a deterioration of services that you are hard pressed to find a garbage can on any major toronto street. As a citizen I am barraged enough with senseless advertising that I do not want it on the sidewalk on garbage cans that were obviously designed to accomodate advertising and not trash | If the city is strapped for cash perhaps they should simply go back to old style one simple bin approach that you occasionally. |
| 448 | 08/04/2005 04:49:56 PM | Yes | Dundas West & Bloor | No | Overly large for the purpose. | Yes | “I think that they’re are enormously oversized, that they are a blight on the streets. I don’t think that litter collection should necessitate such a grotesque, blatant advertising space.” | No | I am offended that the City thinks that these huge ads masquerading as litter bins are a good use of public space. I think they are a cash grab for the city paid for by the eyes and minds of the public. | Can them. I don’t see why advertisers should get to hog sidewalk space that’s already limited enough. |
| 449 | 08/04/2005 04:53:40 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “Too tall/cumbersome ,Would be in favour of smaller bins in greater quantity. If they are more readily available people might use them instead of having to walk several blocks before the next available garbage bin.” | [Blank] |
| 450 | 08/04/2005 05:03:36 PM | Yes | Bloor and Jane | No | “Too complicated, and the container for the general garbage is too small” | Yes | “Its a dreadful, appalling wrong solution to garbage disposal. They block the street scene, the openings located facing the strret are totally useless to pedestrians and will not be used by motorists. Give us back our street scapes, I beg you.” | No | “No, no a thousand times NO. Every Toronto newspaper columist has expressed it acurately, its such a cheapening move, Toronto should be ashamed of itself. You would just confirm the slogan for Toronto, “Toronto FOR SALE”.” | How many times to you have to hear the concern of citizens. Don’t do this to our City. |
| 451 | 08/04/2005 05:11:04 PM | Yes | Pape and Danforth | No | “The fact that one of the openings is right on the curb means that it is impossible to use, unless you step out into traffic, or up against a car parked at the curb. In addition, I noticed that the garbage recptical was overflowing – overflowing with many recyclable items: people seems to not have noticed the signs for where recyclables are deposted and so just threw them in the garbage receptacle.” | Yes | “As noted above, the end that is aganist the curb is unusable – it’s too close to the street/traffic. Also, the advertsing area is far too large – the new bins completely block the view down the sidewalk – - they appear almost as large as the transit shelters.” | No | Surely the company can come up with a design that provides advertsing space but is not so intrusive. | “The new bins are worse than the old ones – at least with them it was clear where recyclables went. It also appears that these new bins don’t store as much garbage – certanly the overflowing ones on the Danforth give that impression. I also think they are poorly designed, given that you have to step almost into traffic to use the end right by the street. Back to the drawing board!” |
| 452 | 08/04/2005 05:12:54 PM | Yes | Dundas and Ossingotn | No | One side faced the road -- I would have to stand on the road to use that side. Openings were not clearly marked. | No | “Horribly. Why are they not perpendicular to the road? I suspect it is for best ad viewing, but I want to be able to not go on to the road to throw out my garbage.” | No | “They are ugly and take up too much space. We need to get money from other levels of gevernment, not through advertisers.” | “Just give us garbage and recycling bins. I don’t want ads, I want to know where to throw my waste.” |
| 453 | 08/04/2005 05:14:47 PM | No | [Blank] | No | I haven’t used them myself but saw a prototype during my brief time working at City Hall. I thought the signs on the bins looked confusing. | No | “Considering their size, there is no doubt that they obstruct in more ways than one.” | No | “Eucan certainly had to do some surveying of the city to determine where these “garbage bins”/billboards should be positioned for minimum obstruction. I certainly hope some of the city’s budget did not fund this surveying.” | “Yes. While I worked briefly at City Hall I learned that Eucan actually pays to remove the garbage from the bins that already “decorate” the city. At first thought this seemed practical (ie. saves the city money). However, I quickly realized why their design is so frustrating and inefficient. The bins are always filthy and you actually have to touch the filthy things to get your garbage in. The orifices are incredibly small. I know the City will argue that this is to prevent large pieces of garbage from being dumped in them. And there is a point here. However, it is so incredibly obvious that the current bins are primarily billboards and only secondarily garbage bins, intentionally designed to not be user friendly. In this way, Eucan does not have to spend much money disposing of the garbage. I was thrilled to see an “old-fashioned” silver garbage bin that simply says “Toronto” on it placed right by my building (Dundas and Lansdowne) several months ago. It has really cleaned up that corner. I’m so glad that the City is still using those sometimes. Thanks. Considering my comments on the current Eucan bins, I guess you can extrapolate about how I feel about the new ones.” |
| 454 | 08/04/2005 05:27:31 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | “i almost ran into it, and when i finally saw the side, it took me forever to figure out where to put things” | Yes | “they are obstructive and reduce the pedestrian room of the already-cramped sidewalks, especially next to street vendors” | No | they are simply not worth it; there are better sources of revenue to pursue and especially not at the cost of making our city less beautiful | please removed them at once! |
| 455 | 08/04/2005 05:38:29 PM | Yes | Bathurst and College | Yes | They were easy to understand but very big and ugly. Not very pleasant to the eye and not something nice to see as a tourist | Yes | They are in the way | No | [Blank] | Please find a different way of cleaning up the city. They are not attractive and takes away from the beautiful city landscape. |
| 456 | 08/04/2005 05:40:21 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | “they are ridiculous, not big enough at all, and it is practically impossible to even notice the cigarette butt holder, since there are butts all over the ground all around it... the old ones were not only bigger, but also more practical. i’ll take something visible as a garbage can so that people will actually use it as that and have space to do so over a billboard any day.” |
| 457 | 08/04/2005 05:40:46 PM | No | I have seen them on Danforth Avenue between Broadview and Pape. | No | It looked very hard to use. I looked at it quite closely to try to figure it out. | No | These bins are an eyesore- there is no way to improve their position. | No | Toronto is now a world city. It is ridiculous that we can’t afford to have litter bins without advertising. | “Send them to the landfill. Bring those who create the most litter (e.g. Tim Hortons, Second Cup, Pizza Pizza and other fast food outlets) into the equation. They are downloading their litter on to our sidewalks and profiting from doing so. Every take out should include a “litter” charge that goes to the city to help clean up the litter.” |
| 458 | 08/04/2005 06:22:09 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | They are big and ugly | No | No...definitely not | Please don’t! |
| 459 | 08/04/2005 06:25:49 PM | Yes | Don Mills and Lawrence | Yes | it’s fairly obvious. | Yes | “They take up too much room, and are facing the wrong way.” | No | “no, because the garbage collecting part is obviously an afterthought. these things are just billboards with holes in them.” | “these things don’t hold half the garbage/recycling that the old silver bins do.unless the city is going to be emptying them every day, they will continue to over flow onto the sidewalk. these things are hideous!” |
| 460 | 08/04/2005 06:40:55 PM | Yes | Main St and Danforth | Yes | Yes they were easy to understand | Yes | I do not like the way they are set up. I find that the only side that is being used is the side that faces the sidwalk because the other side faces the road which i find does not make sence. This way the one side fills up faster | Yes | I think they are a good way in improving the look of the city | To place them horzantly when close to the road |
| 461 | 08/04/2005 06:48:09 PM | Yes | Yonge and York Mills | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | They are positioned such that one side will be inaccessable in the winter after the streets are plowed. | No | “They are roughly the same height as the ads in a bus shelter, without the added benefit, and very obtrusive.” | “The garbage recepticals are too small; I’ve seen more than one bin that was overflowing, and others I’ve spoken to have noticed the same thing. Also nobody bothers with the cigarette butt area, the one I saw was empty and there were just as many butts on the ground as usual.” |
| 462 | 08/04/2005 06:49:26 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | The current bins have openings at the right height and are easy to understand! Why do we need new ones?! | Yes | “If the city goes forward with this project, which I hope they do not, the bins should only be positioned where they in no way block the view of drivers, cyclists or pedestrians” | No | “The city is already littered with advertising, and I stress the word “litter”. One cannot go anywhere in Toronto without being surrounded by it. It does not make the city a better place to live. It does not make the city more inviting to tourists. It is my belief that the negativee impact that further advertising would have on the city far outweighs any potential financial gain from advertising. Obviously the company is using the waste disposal element of it’s product as an “in” to the city’s coveted ad space. There is also the question of safety. I do not understand how a 7 foot high garbage bin on a street corner could not impede the view of both drivers and pedestrians. The current garbage bins are of a height that people can see and be seen over. A seven-foot tall tower on a street corner would, in my opinion, have a negative impact on the safety of our streets. I am opposed to using public property for commercial advertising and I sincerely hope the city does not go forward with the proposed new bins.” | “In short, I am opposed to the new bins. They would be an eyesore. They would make the street corners more dangerous to both pedestrians and drivers, and the benefit to the city of Toronto and its people would not be sufficient when measured against the negative aspects of the propsed new bins.” |
| 463 | 08/04/2005 08:27:44 PM | Yes | Bathurst & College :) | No | “The bins are far too small. And clearly ignored, because of all the cigarette butts on the ground around it.” | Yes | “They face the wrong way (for practical use; its positioning is obviously only useful for advertising). One side of the unit is too close to the street (that’ll be a problem in winter) and the other side is too close to a parking lot barrier (can’t even walk around on that side, making it virtually useless).I imagine that the other bins are also positioned to maximize the advertisement visibility, rather than actual usefulness.They also block visibility, because they take up half the width of the sidewalk. We don’t need these obstacles.” | No | “These bins aren’t for better waste management; they’re for advertising. Please install bins that are actually useful, rather than in the way. The current paper/blue bin/litter units are the same, minus the ashtrays, but don’t block visibility, are accessible from the sidewalk without any detour, and are already familiar to Toronto’s citizens.Spending money on something that works is far better than getting an inferior product for free. The only changes for these old bins would be to add the ashtrays, and maybe to enlarge the door-flaps.” | [Blank] |
| 464 | 08/04/2005 08:31:36 PM | No | [Blank] | No | N/A Haven’t come across it but heard comments from friends that the design makes it not obvious which goes in where. It does look confusing to me in the pictures. | Yes | N/A | No | “I understand the bins will generate some additional and much-needed revenue for the city. However it saddens me to be reminded once again the esthetics of the city (especially the downtown core) area is being compromised for commercial purposes. This is in addition to the surge of billboards on vehicles (or vehicles for the sole purpose of wheeling a billboard around the city), giant LCD billboards and even ads on the wheel covers of cabs.It’s one more thing that makes living in Toronto downtown less appealing than the suburbs.” | [Blank] |
| 465 | 08/04/2005 09:11:10 PM | Yes | Roncesvalles | Yes | [Blank] | No | They are an eye-sore. | No | “The freedom to have more commercial clutter on our streets – our shared municipal space – is not the type of freedom I have in mind. If advertisers want increased access to advertising space on municipal property, then they can co-sponser important municipal programs – like public transit, for instance.” | “Get them off our streets – for good. There are enough useless advertising messages on the streets as it is. ,Just what space is not for sale in our city?” |
| 466 | 08/04/2005 11:51:32 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | These bins are a monument to the Tobacco companys. They advertize smoking and do nothing to reduce the butt problem. GET RID OF THEM! | No | These bins are useless except for advertizing. I hope the Tobacco companys are paying the City of Toronto at least a billion dollars a year for the free advertizing. For my part I hate to look at the filthy cigarette butts. GET RID OF THEM! | GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM!GET RID OF THEM! |
| 467 | 08/05/2005 08:50:04 AM | Yes | bloor abh christie | No | just looked like a billboard. hard to notice the openings for garbage. | Yes | “terrible. they take up too much space. to a pedestrian, it just looks like a billboard placed in your path.” | No | absolutely not! advertisers have abundant opportunities to assault us as we try to enjoy public space. please don’t give them yet another opportunity. the city should push for more taxing power in order to pay for public services. KEEP PUBLIC SPACES FOR THE PUBLIC! | stop referring to them as garbage/recycling bins – they’re billboards with holes. |
| 468 | 08/05/2005 08:53:05 AM | Yes | Christie & Bloor | Yes | [Blank] | No | “The bins are not attractive to look at, but are practical, and take up less space. I suppose if the bins hold more waste and recycling than the previous street ones, then this would be a economical use of space.” | No opinion | [Blank] | The bins are not subtle and are ugly to look at. The current recepticles for waste rest on street corners and are convenient. The proposed bins lie in the middle of the sidewalk and are an eyesore to the community. |
| 469 | 08/05/2005 08:58:54 AM | Yes | Kennedy and Finch | No | The recyclable bin is small and is hard to figure out. I was sure it was the garbage outlet. I had trouble puttting my pop bottle into this bin | Yes | I find the bins much to tall. I could not see my bus comming until I was around the bin. It blocks the view. | No | I find the signs to big and the garbage and recycle areas much to small. They block the view. and are ugly. I have checked the bylow and found that you cant put anything that tall on the street I wonder why there would be an execption made for these bins. | I like the old bins and feel that you could sell more advertising on them.I am sure there are alternatives to these bins. |
| 470 | 08/05/2005 10:26:36 AM | Yes | Bathurst & College | No | too stupidly narrow in order to show off advertising and not to receive garbage | Yes | inane and complete sell out to advertisers. things like this are a complete counteraction to all efforts to improve the quality of public space in the cit. | No | the city should grow up and stop selling out to every jackass who wants to make a buck at the expense of a liveable city. | please reconsider. |
| 471 | 08/05/2005 11:40:12 AM | Yes | “Danforth, east of Broadview” | No | “It was full. In fact, it was overflowing. This was on a weekday morning (around 11:30 AM), not after some big event.” | Yes | “They are huge and hideous. They add to the clutter already on our sidewalks (newspaper boxes, parking stations (or meters), planters filled with dead plants and so on.” | No | No. The City should stop selling off every square inch of ppublic space to commercial interests. We are bombarded with enough advertising in private space. It is obvious that public services require more funding. People should stop pussyfooting around the problem and have the guts to set taxes at a level that will provide more revenue. | “To repeat: they are too big although the space provided for refuse is to small; furthermore, it is obscene to add more advertising to the public sphere.” |
| 472 | 08/05/2005 11:44:34 AM | Yes | Christie and Bloor | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Too large and overbearing...you don’t notice that its a garbage can as you get distracted by the advertising.New bins are more about advertising than garbage collection.” | No | There has to be an alternative. I don’t want these bins all over my neighbourhood. They take away from what’s around and just clog up the streets. | GET RID OF THEM!!! |
| 473 | 08/05/2005 11:47:57 AM | [Blank] | St. Clair and Keele | No | “One of the receptacles faces the road and is, thus, completely useless.” | Yes | Awful. What is city council thinking prostituting the city out to this kind of fetid trash (pun)? I will park my vote with whatever candidate in my Ward agrees to get rid of these horrendous contraptions in the swiftest time. | No | See above. I hate them and they make our already visually challenged city look that much more unpleasant. | If you want to raise money that bad I’d rather you raise property taxes than foist these bins on an unsuspecting public. They’re that bad. |
| 474 | 08/05/2005 12:20:44 PM | Yes | yes. I’ve used the gross obstruction at Bathurst/College. | No | The graphics/font is terrible. Very confusing arrows. The garbage opening was stuffed with recyclables. | Yes | They’re a hindrance. They take up far too much room for such small openings for garbage. It’s not even clear what they are until you get up close. They will serve only to advertise to people who are sick of having pathetic ads shoved down their throats everywhere they go. Little garbage will be colllected in them. Even less will be separated and recycled. | No | The City needs to be more creative about how to save money or generate revenue. Raising money at the expense of human interest is sad and embarrassing. Who’s going to pay for the electricity used to illumate them? Why aren’t they illuminated for the test run? Perhaps so people won’t notice them and see how pathetic they really are. | I hope they’re vandalized into extinction. |
| 475 | 08/05/2005 12:22:35 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | The bins are unsightly and large. Toronto can afford to buy their own garbage bins. We want people to produce less garbage. When you go to a city like London England there are no public garbage bins (as a result of IRA experience) and no newspaper boxes – the sidewalks are clear for what they are meant for walking. | [Blank] |
| 476 | 08/05/2005 12:25:26 PM | No | Pacific and Dundas | No | [Blank] | Yes | “The bins are appaling, unsightly and impractical. The only serve to obstruct pedestrian traffic and to polute the visual environment with more advertising.” | No | There are thousands of other ways to generate revenue. Adding to a visually impoversished streetscape will only drive away tousist dollars. | Get ride of them or at the least don’t add any more. |
| 477 | 08/05/2005 01:02:04 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | I’m concerned that they will cause traffic problems with pedestrians. | Yes | If this will be more attractive then existing garbage cans and would reduce the foul odours that current bins produce then I am in favour of them. | [Blank] |
| 478 | 08/05/2005 02:20:21 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 479 | 08/05/2005 03:52:07 PM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | “I think that they could be dangerous.They are so high and wide, and since they are obviously directed at conveying a message to pedaestrians, but mostly passing drivers, I worry that some one could step out from behind one and not clearly see moving traffic or vice versa, a driver wouldn’t be able to see someone coming out from behind the bin in time” | Yes | “I am very for more garbage and recycling recepticals but I really detest the size of them,More advertising may mean more money, but it also means more EYE polution” | “investing in our environment is very important...i’m sure it will be decided upon dispite our feedback. So when you install them around the city, I am hopeful that we as a city help to keep Toronto more clean and beautiful, dispite the “eye pollution”” |
| 480 | 08/05/2005 04:07:11 PM | Yes | Christie Pits | Yes | “The bin is neither better now worse than the existing type, although I am dubious of the thing’s overall capacity and of the durability of its plastic components (especially with respect to contact with smoldering cigarette butts).” | Yes | “Obnoxious, simply obnoxious. These bins are clearly, first and foremost, about further saturating our narrow-sidewalked, tree-denuded main thoroughfares with more advertising frontage.” | No | “Of all the cities I have lived in over the course of my life, Toronto’s are by far the ugliest and most amenity starved. Yet at the same time, they are also becoming the most advert-choked, leaving me (and the rest of the world that visits Toronto, I expect) highly dubious of the city’s priorities vis-a-vis its residents and visitors. With the explosion of large-screen video billboards and these ad-plastered map-points at the parks, I have found myself coming to wonder whether the public spaces of this city are intended for anybody but advertisers, and these trashbins are a new low in this regard -- trashbins only second, they are massively oversized sidewalk-level billboards first.” | “They are a mistake, kindly do not infest our city with them.” |
| 481 | 08/05/2005 04:23:43 PM | Yes | Christie & Bloor (northwest corner) | No | “Recyclables doorway impossible to figure out without dedicated reading of the signage. As a result, people were throwing cans and newspapers in with the trash. The trash bin is the only obvious receptable.” | Yes | “These are large units. They’re okay in large areas like parks and large open spaces, but on typical street corners, they’re way too big.” | No | Not without changes that ensure the recyclable section will be used. | [Blank] |
| 482 | 08/05/2005 04:49:36 PM | Yes | Christie and Bloor | No | The opening for recyclables was HARD to figure out and see -- The opening is small with a black covering. I looked in the trash section and most people had thrown their beverage bottles and cans and newspapers there. I think the design needs improvement. | Yes | I think there bins are very large. They would ONLY be appropriate for areas and corners with quite a bit of space. | [Blank] | This is not a yes or no question. I think they would be apporriate in settings/corners that are larger than usual. They would be very inapprporiate on small crowded sidewalks. I don’t fully trust the city to thoughfully place big bins. | No |
| 483 | 08/05/2005 06:08:50 PM | Yes | Christie Pits | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | Illuminated advertising on our public streets is bad enough as it is. The last thing I want to see in my neighbourhood is more light pollution. Christie Pitts is a wonderful bit of parkland in the middle of the city. Don’t defile it with more intrusive advertising. | “The existing bins are unobtrusive, effective and user-friendly. the new bins are eye-sores.” |
| 484 | 08/05/2005 07:12:26 PM | Yes | Have seen one at Dundas West/Roncesvalles | No | “They were well pointed out by the poster on the side, but those will obviously be exchanged for ads later. The slots seem pretty small, too. And the cigarette part seems kind of laughable, as if anyone will actually use it.” | Yes | “They seem to be positioned so that the ads are visible to oncoming drivers.Having obstacles that tall jutting into the sidewalk at an angle are bothersome and block a significant part of my vision, but they would probably be similarly annoying at pretty much any other angle.Also, one end will be piled up with snow and unusable throughout the winter.” | No | “About 10% of the so-called garbage bins’ structure seems to be devoted to the actual disposing of garbage. It’s obvious that it’s just another excuse for more ads, as if we aren’t choked with them already. I realize the extra revenue would be welcome, but it doesn’t seem worth it to have to put big ugly walls all over our sidewalks.” | “They’re way too high. The current receptacles display advertising that’s not nearly as intrusive, i.e. blocking everyone’s view of the street and the sidewalk, and they don’t look like a big useless billboard with a garbage bin tacked onto the side.” |
| 485 | 08/06/2005 07:02:37 AM | Yes | McCowan RT Station | No | “The labels describing where to put each item are too small. Also, might i suggest that, on the side with the organics, you make the slot for the organics at the top rather than the bottom. I have seen a lot of garbage tossed into the organic slot because it is the biggest slot and on the bottom. Most people wont read what goes where so they assume that its for garbage. Also, not too many people have organic garbage with them, most have household garbage or recyclables. So i suggest making the largest sections for these two items, (garbage and recyclables)” | Yes | “Terrible! For one, at many locations, there is one side that is right against the curb of the road so that pedestrians almost have to walk directly on the road to access it. Also, why have the battery slot (which will get used very rarely) on the most accessible side, and the cigarette disposal (which would get more use then the batteries) on the side closest to the road. Mainly, you should turn them 90 degrees so that there is no particular side close to the road. Or just pull them further away from the road.” | Yes | Its a win/win situation!!! | “Make the labels for each item ALOT larger so people will notice them more. Also, maybe you could add some small bars lined across some of the openings to prevent garbage being put into the wrong slot .[redacted]” |
| 486 | 08/06/2005 08:22:12 AM | Yes | Main & Kingston | No | The cigarette receptacle seemed to be for bottles. One end of bin faces street – you’d have to be on busy road to use it! | Yes | Only one end is usable. The ‘bins’ take up a lot of sidewalk space. | No | “These things are too big. They don’t seem well-designed. The city needs to find money from other sources, not more advertising -- there is enough already!” | “Would I be right in assuming that the ‘billboard’ part of these ‘bins’ is illuminated by electricity for the ads? This seems to me outrageous during this summer of heatwaves, and completely ot-of-line for a supposedly progressive garbage/recycling program.” |
| 487 | 08/06/2005 08:58:31 AM | No | The one I’ve seen is College west of Bathurst. | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “I know this is a strange thought, but I always thought sidewalks were for people to walk on.” | No | “These are not garbage/recycling bins, these are billboards. Therefore, they have no business being installed on sidewalks.” | Pernamently installed billboards on sidewalks I believe are illegal. Remove them now! |
| 488 | 08/06/2005 09:06:02 AM | No | [Blank] | No | haven’t seen one | No | [Blank] | Yes | no I will not | “um....hold trash?,why does it need ads and cause eyesores in the city? aren’t the transit....and walls in toronto covered in ads anyways?” |
| 489 | 08/06/2005 09:22:13 AM | Yes | Christie Pits park | Yes | “it’s a box with a hole in it. what’s hard about that... trash goes in the hole. also, 7 feet tall that’s ridiculous and completely unnecessary.” | Yes | honestly more garabage bins is always better but these ones lit up. i’m getting charged up the ass for hydro and the government is making an issue about the electricity shortage so why in the world would you put up bins that consume power we don’t have? doesn’t seem smart to me. | No | “they light up. they would display lit up advertising, consumming electricity we’re already short on and adding to increased light pollution. but nice one with not showing them lit up on the street though. you’re sneaky mother fuckers.” | why are the people in power so dumb? we’re facing an energy shortage... and yet you’re putting up bins that are not only unnecessarily huge but consume energy. who’s dumb idea was this anyway? plus thank you for not being honest and showing these things as they will actually appear with the lights on. i’m sooo angry about this i’m not even sure what else to say. this is by far the worse idea and i’m sick of advertising everywhere. i’m tired of the light pollution. i’m sick of this government and the stupid decision they are making for this city even if it is just trash bins. |
| 490 | 08/06/2005 10:23:55 AM | Yes | bloor st east of boardview | Yes | the layout was easy to understand and quick to place things into | Yes | “they are positioned well for people either travel via foot, cycle or car can notice them or read them.” | Yes | [Blank] | “My 2 concerns is whether or not the bins hold enough trash. They seem smaller in size than the current bins that do not hold enough on busy locations such as yonge south of bloor. ,Secondly if the bins will remain closed at all times, i often see the current bins open and though i try to close them they do not close they just fall open again. This is a poor design flaw that truley upsets me when i have to see the trash inside the box or have to watch out not to walk into them.” |
| 491 | 08/06/2005 10:33:42 AM | Yes | bloor west village | No | the collection areas are too small and difficult to access | Yes | [Blank] | No | they are not practical enough | “like so many other government projects, high on ideals, short on practicality. the bins need to be more accessible and able to hold more litter. the ashtray is a good idea” |
| 492 | 08/06/2005 12:53:22 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | The bins are too tall – and block the street scape for pedestrians. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the current – waist-high units installed at bus stops that also display advertising. | “The garbage area is difficult to see on the sides of the ad. They are too tall – as a pedestrian, I find they block vision, and pose a safety hazard – anything could be lurking behind the unit – as a woman, they do not make me feel safe. I would suggest the city not install these, unless they were no higher than waist height – 3-4ft.” |
| 493 | 08/06/2005 02:40:31 PM | Yes | Sheppard Avenue East at Brian Drive | No | “Perhaps its newness or unfamiliarity, but the rubbish bin was filled with 5-6 empty Gatorade bottles. Clearly labelled signage for each receptacle would improve public understanding and appropriate disposal of the various rubbish items.” | Yes | “this particular bin is sited with the receptacles perpendicular to the roadway, so one side exposes the citizen to the passing traffic. Placed further back from the road and closer to the adjacent bus shelter would be better.” | Yes | “Yes, with a proviso that the contractor be required to maintain the bins to a very high standard of cleanliness, bins are emptied several times weekly and prevent the adhesion of stickers/postering/signage as currently afflicts our light standards and hydro poles.” | “Please introduce additional collection for battery recycling and make it a requirement that one advertising space be strictly reserved for City of Toronto use to convey information and public events to the citizen (as is done in Paris, Montreal, Frankfurt and other civilised cities)” |
| 494 | 08/06/2005 10:06:37 PM | Yes | Dundas & Ossington | Yes | ...although the recycling slot is a little weird. | Yes | “When positioned perpendicular to the street, they block a significant portion of the sidewalk. Also, the openings facing the street are of little use as pedestrians who don’t like getting hit by cars rarely walk there.” | Yes | “...but not 1500 of them. They may be suitable for areas with wide sidewalks, in highly commercialized areas where a few more big glowing billboards aren’t going to add noticably to the eyesore factor (eg. Dundas Sq, North York Ctr...). In most places, the old ones are working just fine thank you.” | “They seem to have less capacity than the old ones, despite blocking more of the sidewalk. I suspect if you designed a garbage can and then put ads on it, rather than designing a billboard and then putting a garbage can in it, you’d end up with a more practical result.” |
| 495 | 08/07/2005 06:49:25 AM | Yes | Danforth and Greenwood | No | [Blank] | Yes | They are too big for the sidwalk. They block the view for cars making turns and they are an eyesore. | No | “The city already has enough billboards etc. bombarding us with pointless advertising. Please, no more.” | “They are too large for the city, please don’t install them.” |
| 496 | 08/07/2005 09:48:23 AM | Yes | Danforth near Pape | Yes | [Blank] | No | These look awful and are an eyesore. They are too tall and you can’t see past them. The extra height serves no purpose other than to overload us with extra advertising. | No | “I really do not like these in my neighbourhood or in the rest of Toronto. As stated above, the extra height and large advertising serves no useful purpose.” | I’m hoping that the pilot project will not be expanded and that the current units will be removed from the Danforth. I hope they will be replaced with units that are useful but less intrusive. |
| 497 | 08/07/2005 11:51:58 AM | Yes | bloor west village | No | too confusing for the average user | Yes | they are positioned poorly. they should run paralell to the street not perpendicular to it. i would almost have to stand in traffic to use the street side of the bin | Yes | [Blank] | pretty looking but not practical enough. bigger collection areas and openings to put material would be an improvement. the ashtray is a nice addition but i also wonder if sepearte ashtrays would be less of a potential fire hazard |
| 498 | 08/07/2005 11:59:41 AM | Yes | bloor st. w. & windermere | No | openings too small | Yes | “don’t see the usefulness of having openings that face the street. Motorists are not going to stop there cars to dump their garbage. The bins are too tall, bulky, terrible design. These bins are an eyesore, totally destory the street scape, take-up too much space on an already crowded sidewalk. Its obvisious the functionality of the bins is based on maximizing advertising space.Terrible design for a simply task of depositing trash.” | No | “I support advertising as a means towards financing the cost of the bins, but this design is too big, its an eyesore. Prefer the existing bins there low, unobtusive, actually alot easier to dump garbage- the slots are bigger than the new design. I am sure the designers can come up with something better, after all, the commercial revenue from advertising for the bin owners will more than make up the cost for a new design that actually works!” | “Definetely against this new design, I suggest you go back to the drawing board. The priority should be a simple and less intusive design blending into the streetscape. Forget the money factor here Torontians should not be subjected to this type of blatant advertising.” |
| 499 | 08/07/2005 12:41:08 PM | Yes | keele+lawrence | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | reasonably | No | “Stop putting ads on every surface possible, it screws with people’s heads.” | “While every conscious business is dimming the lights in their stores, the city is installing illuminated garbage cans? Pull the plug on ‘em!” |
| 500 | 08/07/2005 03:07:00 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | Have not seen any on sidewalks – have only seen them in places like the median down University in a great position for advertising but a poor position for actual waste collection. | No | [Blank] | “-We do not need more of this type of advertising – we would be better off with more of the big trash bins along the sidewalks and get more revenue from those,-the existing bins are often full and these ones are smaller so need to be emptied even more” |
| 501 | 08/07/2005 04:59:28 PM | Yes | Danforth Ave. and Playter Blvd. | No | The bin was far too complicated. I actually had to stand there and stare at the thing for quite some time to figure out how it works. The current bins are far more user friendly. | Yes | The positioning of the bins is terrible. Since the bins are placed very close to the curb only one side of the bin is even usable as one would have to step out into traffic to use the other side. When I used the bin it was already overflowing on the one useable side due to the poor positioning and obviously limited capacity of the bin. | No | “These bins appear to be designed simply to place more billboards on the streets with little regard given to their stated purpose of somewhere to dispose of litter. Therefore, I would prefer more of the current style of bin, or even better the current style of bin but without advertising.” | “Simply put, these bins are awful and should be shipped off to the dump with the rest of the trash.” |
| 502 | 08/07/2005 09:12:57 PM | Yes | Victoria park & Kingston Road | No | “The recyclable slot is in a difficult location and is an odd shape. If I was shorter I would have trouble reaching it, if unfamiliar with English I wouldn’t guess its purpose.” | Yes | “Extremely poorly. The primary purpose is obviously to provide advertising space targeted at passing automobiles. This blocks the sidewalk both physically and visually, one has to walk around the large sign and the view down the sidewalk towards other pedestrians and the streetscape is obscured.The “old” design was vastly superior: placed at the curb it was less of an obstacle.The new style is an insult to pedestrians. It’s just a roadside billboard with a trashcan inside, not serving the sidewalk at all. The container is far from the curb, I haven’t seen the procedure to empty it but I can’t imagine it being better than the old ones which at least opened directly onto the street for easy servicing by truck.” | No | “Giving away the sidewalks to advertisers so pedestrians are inconvenienced and obstructed is perverse.The old bins are not perfect, but they seem to be designed as trash bins with some advertising space rather than as billboards with a trash bin grafted on as an afterthought.” | “If you seriously believe in recycling, have a bin for newspapers and magazines where they aren’t locked away so nobody can re-use them once readers have finished.I never discard a paper, even in the existing bins. I fold it and put it on a bench or on top of a paper box so someone else can enjoy it. I’m not the only one; encouraging waste is the antithesis of “recycling”. I can read a newspaper or magazine for free at the city library so the city can’t be ethically opposed to such an act – why should you make it impossible for me to do so on the street?” |
| 503 | 08/07/2005 09:54:43 PM | Yes | College and Bathurst | No | “What the hell does it take you guys to figure out? I mean, it’s only been done since the beginning of time! A barrel shaped object waist high, with an open top. It holds a garbage bag, and you toss your trash in. Very tasteful. The huge bins are a disaster.” | Yes | “1. They block the sidewalk,2. One side of the tower of trash faces the street less than a foot from the curb. You figure it out. Wait, let me tell you, it’s useless. Wasn’t that easy? Just so there’s no confusion. (Well, one can hope.)” | Yes | “I am not against advertising. For god’s sake, make an urbane normal city trash bin.” | “If you owned a private drive, and you had guests over, would you want this?” |
| 504 | 08/07/2005 09:58:31 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | no opinion | No | [Blank] | “These bins will be illuminated, thus using more energy. With the threat of power shortages it seems extremly irresponsible to increase the use of power needlessly. Not only will they be an eye sore, they will also use more energy. We cut back our household use of power, just so you can light up some garbage bins. This is insulting and unacceptable.” |
| 505 | 08/07/2005 10:43:40 PM | No | lakeshore | No | the openings for the refuse are small and confusing...the unit is 30x larger than it needs to be...it clutters up the sidewalk and is an eyesore | No | it is an enormous monstrosity...no amount of fiddling with the position would change this | No | we already have garbage cans with ads and there is enough advertising on the street already | “uninstall them all, pile in Downsview Park, then set them on fire” |
| 506 | 08/07/2005 11:01:11 PM | Yes | Dundas/Pacific. | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | They take up far too much room and are ugly as sin. | No | The city does NOT need more advertising in public space – we need some regulation to cut down on the amount of visual clutter there is out there. The amount of advertising seen in public space in Toronto makes this metropolis of ours an ugly place. Don’t make the problem worse! | “Yes – how about some regular trash cans instead of this nonsense? Also, it is extremely deceptive of the city to not point out that the cans in this proposal will be ILLUMINATED (if that is truly the case) thus using power to make the advertising even more offensive. Stop this project now!!!” |
| 507 | 08/08/2005 12:13:38 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | It’s a huge obstruction. It looks arkward. And it blocks your view of what’s on the other side which can be hazardous when your riding a bike. | No | The current design is too big. I am not oppossed to the principle of advertising on garbage cans but this model is just ugly and intruding. | “Please don’t install these big, ugly bins on our streets.” |
| 508 | 08/08/2005 01:10:21 AM | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “They are distracting for vehicles, and an eye sore for drivers, passengers, and pedestrians as they cover affect the sightlines of local businesses.” | No | review above | “the old bin height is fine, the company needs to find a new solution or new business if they are serving the interest of advertisers and media buyers.” |
| 509 | 08/08/2005 08:04:40 AM | Yes | King street west and Strachan Ave | No | “One side is very close to the street-rendering it inpractical, the overall bin is very small I wonder how much it can hold and how often it needs changing” | Yes | I think they have been positioned for effective advertising not for proper waste disposial-the mere fact that they are to be lit up each night all night – is a contradiction to their purpose of recycling. | No | Is the money from the markerters really worth it? Overall I am not in favor of these bins – I am outraged that we are even considering them at all – everyone is trying to conserve energy and city hall is proposing these bins that light up? What’s wrong with this picture? | Simply I think they are a marketing ploy – and to promote such things disguised as recycling bins is sending the wrong message – a message I thought the city for Toronto was finally beginning to get – a greener message |
| 510 | 08/08/2005 11:10:00 AM | Yes | Windermere and Bloor | No | Had to look carefully as to where things go | Yes | “Take up too much room on the sidewalk, even though you can access both sides you have to stand on the road to put stuff in.” | No | “TOO BIG, TOO BRIGHT and UNATTRACTIVE” | The actual garbage bin is to small and they fill up too fast. |
| 511 | 08/08/2005 11:16:36 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | I didn’t use it. | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “The advertising is fine. It shouldn’t light up though. We already have enough things that light up in our streets without adding a gabage bin into the mess. For a city that is so concerned with energy consumption, you’re throwing it out with the garbage. Litterally.” | “Don’t make them light up. ,The way your questions are worded for this survey, they encourage positive feedback. They should be worded in a less-biased manner.” |
| 512 | 08/08/2005 11:39:09 AM | No | “The first bin I noticed was indeed at the Bathurst and College location. I believed it to be a new billboard, and did not realize at first that it was a garbage bin at all.” | No | It was difficult to notice that the bin was a bin--it appears simply to be a large billboard. The actual openings for the trash receptacles are too small and difficult to locate (or even recognize). | Yes | They are intrusive. The signs are too large and the receptacles are too small. | No | “No. The bins are impractical, difficult to recognize, and a complete contradiction in terms. ,Being difficult to recognize, the bins will not get used--particularly by visitors to the city, so we’ll still have a litter problem. On top of that, we’ll have to put up with even more ad pollution in our city.Advertising, by its very nature, is a symbol of waste, fakeness, and immaturity. It is a contradiction in terms to bury a recycling bin inside advertising. It flies in the face of Torontonians’ values of environmental sustainability and common sense. ,It seems like a little thing, but it is in these little ways that life in our city becomes more and more commercialized and unbearable.The city can find more creative ways to raise money. Selling out to advertisers should not be one of them.” | “Yes--scrap them. Billboards on trashcans is a dubious idea at best, but no matter what, the advertising should not take precedence over the function of the trashcan (which is what these new bins do).” |
| 513 | 08/08/2005 11:56:30 AM | Yes | dundas and ossington | No | “one end faced the street, the other side (already interferring with pedsestrian traffic) required that I stand in the way of others to use it.” | [Blank] | Obtrusive. They are in the way of any passersby. they interfere with your line of sight. They make an open street seem claustrophobic. They have the potential of causing accidents by any pedestrians dashing across a busy street from behind one of them. | No | “The new recycling bins are choking sidewalks. They’re problematic now, when winter comes and snow piles around them, it will be even worse. And the enormous size makes them a blight on the Toronto landscape.” | Only through drastic redesign could these signs be acceptable. |
| 514 | 08/08/2005 12:11:48 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | “They are way too large. The obstruct the view of EVERYTHING. They could also be a safety hazzard for women. People could easily stand behind them and attack victims as they walk by. When walking at night, women try to be aware of all of their surroundings. They avoid certain areas to ensure they are not put in a compromising position. These are not safe. They are too tall and too wide.” | No | “For all of the reasons above. I’m in favour of keeping Toronto clean however, I am also in favour of keeping Toronto “appealing”. These bins are awful” | [Blank] |
| 515 | 08/08/2005 01:15:37 PM | Yes | Bloor West Village | No | The openings seemed small and too closely spaced. | No | They are quite large and obtrusive. Perhaps I did not see the openings on the other side because it faced the street. | No | They are an eyesore. The funding concept is sound but the bins themselves need to go back to the drawing board. See #6 | “I like the idea that it accepts cigarette butts, hopefully it will cut down on the butt litter.As far as the design I find it “butt” ugly. It looks a billboard with holes on the side. To make matters worse, I saw one with overflowing trash. It looks like the bins themselves are only capable of holding a tiny amount of garbage/recyclables compared to its massive size.Try making the bins shorter, fatter, like a freezer. You can place advertising on the top and sides, and make more room for the contents.Thanks” |
| 516 | 08/08/2005 01:47:01 PM | Yes | chester & danforth | Yes | “It was opening of the garbage was perfect, I would often put little pieces of garbage in the old bin’s and the flap would flip them out and I would not want to touch the dirty garbage or garbage bin, the new ones are perfect. Plus being a smoke I would not put my cigarette butts in the old bin’s because I was afraid they would catch on fire, so the new bins are perfect.” | No | “They are positioned okay, but why not put them length wise on the sideway, then it would not be as much of an obsitcle for people walking.” | Yes | “You already do it with everything else, the old bins, TTC stops, buses, street cars, etc.... So it’s not like we would be able to choose anyway. But if it’s going to pay for it that’s fine.” | “I did not put any recycleables to put in the new bin, but I’m wondering if the flap needs to be there, I’m afraid it was touch my hand if I was putting something in, and that’s the last thing I want.” |
| 517 | 08/08/2005 02:06:26 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “While I have not actually placed garbage in the containers, I find the side openings inconsequential.” | Yes | Eyesore. | No | “Advertising in itself is a blight on clean and beautiful Toronto. There is already an over abundance of advertising on TTC shelters, rooftop signs, benches, etc. Surely the city can pay for garbage cans without the assistance of advertisers.” | “YES, all advertising on street furniture should be banned in residential communities and designated corners.Let’s keep advertising it in commerical and instititutional areas. ,The City has done a fantastic job on Sheppard Ave East in beautifying the streetscape. These efforts are being eroded by the addition of advertising. For example, visit the North-East corner of Bayview and Sheppard, and take a look at the negative impact the advertising bench has on the carefully thought out design.” |
| 518 | 08/08/2005 02:31:04 PM | Yes | Greenwood and Danforth | No | Not as simple as the current bins | Yes | They look really big for simple trash bins. What is the space above the openings for? | No | “The revenue would be nice but they’re *really* ugly. If they were 1/2 the size, then they might be fine, but they’re an eyesore.” | Get rid of them – Or at least make their size useful like make them a part of a TTC shelter or something. |
| 519 | 08/08/2005 02:34:37 PM | Yes | Don Mills and Eglinton | No | “It’s on the corner without a bus stop, and righ t up against the road.” | Yes | “Too close to the road, but too large to put anywhere else.” | No | “Ads. The real purpose of the bins is ads, not garbage bins. I’d rather pay tax to support proper bins with the focus on collection, instead of advertising. They are also simply too large.” | “Please, no!” |
| 520 | 08/08/2005 02:50:34 PM | Yes | “Howard Park, Roncensvilles” | No | “well labelled, right height, but the side closest to the pedestrian was overused while the road side was empty and unused.” | No | They should be placed parallel to the road. Otherwise they take up too much room (1 entire sidewalk!). Also placing them paralell allows the pedestrian to safely use/see both ends of the bins. Having one end facing the busy street is dangerous and illogical. | No | “too big, very bulky, ugly, clutters our valuable sidewalks, serve no real purpose to justify excessive size, looks like the city “sold out” to advertizing revenue.” | “KEEP OUR CURRENT (SHORTER) BINS, THESE NEW BINS ARE TOO BIG AND DO NOT CONTRIBUTE TO TORONTO’S URBAN LANDSCAPE – THEY TAKE AWAY FROM THE BEAUTY OF OUR CITY.” |
| 521 | 08/08/2005 02:58:17 PM | Yes | “bridletown and warden, and the ones on warden and sheppard” | No | “absolutely not-- a lot of the residence do not read english in this area---and the design for the recyclables and battery disposal sections are horrible---they instructions are so light and hard to read---the holes for the cigarette butts, the batteries and the recyclables are designed in such a bad way that it doesn;t even look like a collection unit for those items, in fact the whole thing looks like a big billboard with two holes to throw stuff in and since no one will or its not made clear enough for them to read the instructions---they see garbage in the holes and so they just throw more into it----i want one of the people who designed this thing that is suppose to look new and improved to actually look into the two large holes that are suppose to divide orgnics and garbage --do u actually see organics and garbage in them--or do u see garbage in both, garbage tha includes bottles and paper?!!” | Yes | “facing the street lights, the word ‘NEW’ was wuite noticable which is a good thing” | No | “if these poorly designed bins -that are suppose to better our recycling habits- are going to replace the current silver bottle/garbage/paper ones than i would have to say no---i mean i have seen more people put bottles into the silver-retangular units which the city puts environmental ads on it---than i have seen people actually put bottles into the ‘NEW’ ones---and do you know why??22 because the current silver, rectangular bins have seperate holes on the same level with easy instructions right above the openings for people to easily undstand and relate to that, the hole that round like a bottle with the photo of bottles and cans above it is for cans and recyclable glass bottles just as the same suare hole with the photo of a newspaper above it is for paper” | “in today’s society, people are lazyto recycle, reuse and renew-----so why are the instructions on those “NEW’’ bins so difficult to looks it, when people throw trash away, (or recyclables)they don’t want to have to read how, if you want people to recycle and save the environment by having places for them to recycle and collect batteries and cigarettes than make it easy for them---i mean the opening for bottles and papers doesn’t even look like an opening for bottles and papers, to an average citizen it looks like some kind of air circulation thing or jus a section of rubber flaps ,and i think that its great that you guys put in a place for people to dispose their batteries properly and seperate from trash, but it took me quite a while to put 6 batteries in, it was so difficult to fit it into those holes, and i had to look carefuuly on where the arrow on the instructions were pointing to on the drawing to know that that was where you put the batteries because it didn’t even look like an opening to collect stuff-----the same goes for the recyclables and cigarettes--i mean do you honestly think people who smoke will have time to carefullly put their butts into that small opening?!!,you know what---don’t listen to me, put out two fresh bins, one of the “NEW” ones and one of the city’s current silver ones in a similar location of traffic and population amounts and compare the results after a month or few weeks on which one recieved the correct amount of garbage and recyclables in the correct sections like its suppose to. Do it and I GARANTEE you that the old, silver ones that the city put enviro ads on will win-,why? because its easy for people to understand, the openings are all on the same height its just the right height of a regular garbage bin,i mean look at the NEW bins, they have everything in descending order and two huge holes for garbage and organics---do you think people will actully take the time to put their bottles all the way at the top through the rubber flaps and most people don’t because they don’t want to or can’t understand or are in a hurry to just throw their stuff away and since the two huge holes are right in front of them--in goes their papers, bottles and cans,plus why are there huge holes for organics and garbage, and why are they one on each side?!, people on the STREETS usually throw away either garbage, papers or bottles--i mean when was the last time you saw someone walking down the streets eating an apple, or a pear ?! most of the time they are drinking water or pop--which results in recyclables!,my point is that this project is not going to improve or increase people’s recycling and composting habits --it will just make it worst and create more garbage from ryclables which could have ended up being recycled---and why are those NEW bins so huge?!,Anyways, I am the founders of Pollution Probe, maybe you’ve seen our ads on television or the subway or the TTC, and I have a degree in environmental policies and marketing so I know how to reach the public and get them to do important things like recyling and I would like you to know that these NEW bins will worsten people’s habits and create more garbage from stuff that could have been potentially and initially recycled.Please think about what i have wrote, the city may need more funding but it also has a major garbage issue and i think we need to do as much as we can possible to recycle and reuse and renew to reduce as much waste as possible and these NEW bins will NOT HElp and will in fact make the garbage problem more complicated and WORST.Thank you for your time and please do not go forward with this seemingly good plan.” |
| 522 | 08/08/2005 03:16:24 PM | No | (I saw the one at Windermere Ave. & Bloor St. W. – did not use it) | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | Very intrusive | No | “A healthy city is about healthy neighbourhoods, and these in turn depend on active main streets which, when all is working right, should be full of people, have space for bikes to park, have local storeowners who can market their businesses, etc. ,Obstructing visual space and much needed sidewalk space with these advertising bins is totally in conflict with having healthy mainstreets.” | “With its commitment to neighbourhoods and main streets, I’m shocked that Council would even consider these blatantly commercial, intrusive structures. ,Give Torontonians simple, clearly labelled waste/recycling bins, empty them regularly, and the people will use them!” |
| 523 | 08/08/2005 04:06:10 PM | Yes | Bloor & Runymede / Danforth & Chester or Pape? | Yes | “The bin section itself seems relatively well-designed, although they are not noticeably better than existing designs.” | No | “1) The bins are placed such that one end (with receptables) faces the street, so I didn’t even notice that there were receptables there. I could not have used them without standing on the street.2) The bins are so large and the placement is such that they decrease the overall width of the sidewalk, creating congestion in areas with well-used sidewalks. ,3) The ads are huge! They are quite an eyesore and disproportionate to the size of the receptables.” | No | I believe that the money received from these bins does not make up for the amount they detract from the beauty of our city. The streetscape is commercial enough without 7’ tall billboards plunked down on the sidewalk. I would rather pay a few dollars more in property tax than have these ugly things throughout the city. | Get rid of them! Buy ad-free bins and focus on serious ways to cut costs or raise revenues. Don’t sell out our public spaces any more than they already have been. |
| 524 | 08/08/2005 04:36:11 PM | Yes | Gerrard and Pape (Gerrard Square) | No | A little low. It was not clear that it was recycling; it just looks like a giant billboard. | Yes | “First they are terrible for sightlines because they are so tall. It is difficult to look down the street. Also, one cannot see if there is person waiting on the other side of the bins causing safety concerns.Second, pedestrian flow is blocked as the bins are set perpendicular to pedestrian flow, creating a bottleneck on the sidewalk.” | No | “In addition to the comments above, there was no public tender on this contract. As a result, it is unclear that this deal would be financially benifical in the long term because no other companies were able to bid. What has resulted is a crummy design and deal which is not necessary the best the City could have gotten if a public tendering processs were to occur.” | Let us never see them again. |
| 525 | 08/08/2005 04:36:33 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | “i feel that the placement of the bins is not going to be pratical. The information on the exterior is not clear enough as far as where each item should be placed, and for the average person I think it will prove to be overly confusing and many materials will be placed in the wrong receptacle.” | Yes | “to be honest, I thought it was pretty terrible. It seems placed for maximum exposure for the advertising, and not for the use as a waste receptacle. For instance, due to its positioning, one must walk periously close to oncoming traffic in order to use the recycle area on the outside. This seems to be in favor of the advertising and not the citizen.” | No | “I feel that the current system was enough, but can accept that it may not be. I really felt like it was all about advertising first, and waste disposal a distant second. I do however understand that the city needs a practical and cost effective system, and see why this has come into place. i just wonder when the advertising will ever stop. Especially when the end result of recycling will very obviosuly not be recognized.” | “Only that I am sure the city can find a better way if it keeps trying. This style of bin could be improved on, especially if it were simply to be turned the other way as to not impede foot traffic. Also, just to state, Mayor Miller is the best we have had in my lifetime, and I have faith that if the results of this survey reach him, he will hear the voice of the people. thanks also for this opportunity.” |
| 526 | 08/08/2005 04:56:54 PM | Yes | Danforth | No | “This “bin” is completely unpractical. It is not labelled adequately, and encourages people to just throw their waste AND recyclables into the bottom compartment – the garbage.” | Yes | “I would not have known that they accept waste/recyclables from both sides, had I not read about them first.” | No | “Absolutely not, they encourage more waste! The old Eucan silverbox bins are far more practical from a recycling standpoint – they are clearly marked, and actually encourage people to recycle.” | “Additionally, people do not want to touch the (usually dirty) rubber flaps of the recycling opening, therefore detering even more people from recycling. The newly-designed garbage/recycling bins fill up extremely quickly (because people are not recycling)and have garbage hanging out of the garbage opening almost all the time. Because the box does not clearly indicate where to put garbage and recyclables, it encourages people to just throw their unwanted waste in the biggest opening – the garbage one. The Eucan recepticles actually put waste and recycling at equal levels, encouraging people to recycle. People do not tend to look up, and with the newly-designed garbage/recycling bins people just see unidentified black rubber flaps at eye level, and just assume there is no other hole to place recyclables in. People just see a hole (at normal “garbage” height), where other people are putting their garbage (and recycling), and they too join and throw both garbage and recyclables into the garbage hole. This so-called new design is a step backwards, and discourages recycling. ,The silverbox Eucan bins actually look sophisticated, and the “new-design” ones made out of plastic are a complete eye-sore.” |
| 527 | 08/08/2005 05:08:06 PM | Yes | Bloor & Christie | Yes | [Blank] | No | The two that I have seen (Christie Pits & Roncesvalles avenue) block pedestrian walkways and normal field of vision/sightlines for the sidewalk | No | These are far too big and completely inappropriate for positioning in residential neighbourhoods (eg. Roncesvalles ave.) or near parks. Garbage bins should not block one’s line of sight – otherwise they strike me as little more than billboards with garbage/recycling bins attached to them. Surely we have enough billboards & street advertising in this city! | “I could perhaps see a few of these in selected downtown or surburban areas where they do not block pedestrians or neighbourhood sitelines (e.g. adjacent to a parking lot or shopping mall). However, these do NOT belong on most sidewalks in or near residential areas.” |
| 528 | 08/08/2005 06:42:53 PM | Yes | BRIAN AND SHEPPARD | Yes | It is a garbage. How hard could it be. | Yes | What a stupid question! People will either use a garbage or litter. | Yes | [Blank] | “I really hope that you didn’t pay anyone to design the bins. The design is as stupid as the “Toronto Unlimited” logo.” |
| 529 | 08/08/2005 08:55:51 PM | Yes | Eglinton and Avenue Rd | No | the signage at the ends where the gargage goes is very poor. | Yes | I had to practically step onto the road to use one end | No | Only if the older more user friendly style remains as well. | Other than a lot of more advertising space the new receptacles are smaller and the signage at the ends is poor and their positioning interrupts traffic flow on the sidewalk . What was wrong with the existing bins? |
| 530 | 08/08/2005 09:57:52 PM | Yes | King and Strachan | No | “Overly complicated. For example, why does the recycling compartment need a rubber covering that will only get torn as the bin ages? Why do do we need a better mousetrap?What happened to the simple garbage bin? Similar one to those used in Algonquin Park (with securable lids) would be fine and would last a long time.” | Yes | “Horrible. They take up as much room widthwise as a bus shelter for no apparent reason other than advertising. Shame on the City for even considering these. Even if there was another reason for this type of placement, the street-side recepticles will become unusable in winter when snow piles up on the curb.” | No | “Same argument as schools installing pop machines: just because it is an easy revenue stream doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. In addition, they use electricity to light the advertisements. When we already have electricity shortages, why do we need another source of wasted energy?,Furthermore, properly designed (sturdy) ‘regular’ garbage bins should have relatively long lives, thereby giving them a fairly long amortization period. Therefore, their annualized cost shouldn’t be that high.” | “Am extremely disappointed that City Councillors continue to ignore the recommendations of City staff. ,Whether it’s Ms. Lindsay-Luby lowering speed limits and installing stop signs willy nilly all over central Etobicoke, or installing pointlessly large, eyesores for garbage containers, the current crop of Councillors really need to get their heads out of the sand!” |
| 531 | 08/08/2005 10:34:39 PM | Yes | Danforth and Playter | No | The space for garbage was too small and half the openings face the road and are simply inaccessible. | No | “The block pedestrian traffic. Awful, awful, awful.” | No | “They are a disgrace and ruin our public spaces. The city should work towards making the public spaces more beautiful, not fill them with advertising that blocks important sitelines and ped traffic.” | get rid to them |
| 532 | 08/08/2005 10:52:55 PM | Yes | “Dundas West & Pacific, Bloor & Jane” | No | I was not clear about the fact that paper and bottles went into the same space and the hole was too high. | Yes | “I think that the bins are a safety hazard to both drivers and pedestrians. They block sight lines and are too close to the street. Cars have to creep out into the intersection to see around them when positionned too close to the corner and drivers would never see a pedestrian standing behind one, about to cross the street. I think these bins are especially dangerous when children may be running on the sidewalk.” | No | I don’t think the city should compromise the safety of it’s citizens for a few dollars saved or earned. I cannot stress enough how poorly these bins are designed. I am a designer myself and would be very disappointed in the city if these bins were to hit the street on any kind of a permanent basis. | “We have enough visual onslaught upon us as citizens of the city, we don’t need any more visual noise added. For the sake of making a few bucks, I seriously think that these bins would endanger the residents of any neighbourhoods in which they are installed. the combined facts that they create more visual noise, are poorly designed, and impede the sightlines of both motorists and pedestrians are all factors for which I don’t think the city should proceed with these bins. Whatever the financial gain. I’ve spoken with several peers and have yet to speak with anyone who feels that these bins would be a positive addition to our city. Please do not proceed with these bins.” |
| 533 | 08/08/2005 11:02:40 PM | Yes | Bathurst and Shepard | No | I found the many openings confusing and that it is hard to know which item goes into which hole. | Yes | I think that they are positioned in the way of pedestrian traffic with them being far oversized for a sidewalk as well as being positioned in a space that is prominently displaying the advertising to oncoming traffic. As well with how they are placed only one side of the bin is accessible to pedestrians without them having to endanger themselves by stepping onto the road. | No | “I believe they are eyesores, used only for advertising with even reduced space for garbage from the older bins they would be replacing. They block pedestrian traffic as well and are only truly accessible from one side.” | “My suggestion is that Toronto runs far away from these new bins. They are impractical and though the old bins were always full these fill much quicker, are much more confusing and do not truly meet the needs of Torontonians.” |
| 534 | 08/08/2005 11:08:24 PM | Yes | Bathurst and Steeles | No | It took a long time to uinderstand the intructions and what the box was for | Yes | “One of the sides are facing traffic, therefore hazardous to ones health to use that particular side.” | No | They look like telephone booths- BUT THERE’S NO TELEPHONES! | “Ugle, scary, give me nightmares about telephoner booths filled with garbage” |
| 535 | 08/09/2005 12:14:54 AM | Yes | Danforth & Carlaw | No | The bins are not very easy to use. The recycling portion is not prominent enough or marked clearly enough. These bins are less garbage & recycling containers that happen to provide ad space than ad space that happens to provide garbage & recycling. | Yes | “The bins are something of a safety risk, since to use one end of the bin, one has to venture close to the traffic on the street. The current recycling/garbage bins are much easier to use and more practical than the newer design.” | No | “I think it is more important to provide easy to use, functional garbage/recycling facilities to keep the city clean and reduce our environmental footprint than it is to increase revenue by installing advertising billboards that provide limited garbage and recycling handling.” | No additional comments. |
| 536 | 08/09/2005 12:19:42 AM | Yes | McCowan RT Station | No | Openings faced the multi-lane road. Dangerous. | Yes | Dangerous and inconvenient. You are either stopping on the side that is in the middle of the sidewalk or risking being hit by a car to get around to the other side. | No | “They are an eyesore and on first evaluation seem as if they will cost us more in electricity, maintenance, and law-suits.” | [Blank] |
| 537 | 08/09/2005 02:23:36 AM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | unusable. | No | “Absolutely not. I would rather pay money than to see these ugly, impractical atrocities in my view.Moreover, I think tourists would also say the same.” | “If you are a tourist, how would you feel if you saw these garbage bins – I mean, billboards – on Toronto sidewalks? They’re a tremendous eyesore and I would be ashamed if my city used these atrocities. And I’m not even talking about the advertising aspect yet. Its PRESCENCE is horrid. Please reconsider.” |
| 538 | 08/09/2005 02:46:44 AM | Yes | Danforth Ave. near Broadview | No | The recycling slot is not convenient for newspapers | Yes | “Awful. If you wanted to make the gabage and recycling collectors easy to access you would rotate the bins 90 degrees. As they are positioned now, the bins maximize obstruction of pedestrian traffic” | No | “Don’t sell off our streetscapes, and compromise effective trash collection, for a couple of million bucks a year. We are already bombarded with too much advertising by the city: ads in bus shelters, ads in buses, buses as ads, ads in subways. Enough!” | These things are a sham and I’m appalled that the city is considering them. It’s clear that the ‘trash bin’ pitch is just a pretext for putting huge billboards on the sidewalk. The is entirely at odds with the Mayor’s Beautiful City talk. |
| 539 | 08/09/2005 07:31:08 AM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “This particular bin was placed perpendicular to Dundas, which meant that one had to step of the curb to use the one end. Also, I found the height of it obscuring my sightline onto the Dundas/Ossington intersection.” | No | I don’t think just because the city can receive these bins for free or receive revenue from the sale of advertising space should be a good enough reason to OK them for use around the city. There are enough advertising forced on citizens these days. If the bins could be made shorter I would have no problem with them but surely one don’t need a 7’ by 5’ bin just to throw recycling and garbage in? Are they bins or billboards? | [Blank] |
| 540 | 08/09/2005 07:45:54 AM | Yes | “Pape & Danforth, King & Strachan” | No | “Without the sign being on the side, it will be very hard to see what goes where. Also, the garbage is quite small.” | Yes | “They are extremely large and take up far too much of the sidewalk. Also, because the one side is placed close to the curb, you can only use one side, as the other requires you to almost be on the road. They are visually unappealing, and will heavily restrict pedestrian traffic if placed in most areas of the city. As well, they obscure the view of the road when looking for the streetcar, a taxi, or when trying to cross the road.” | No | “The current bins are advertising enough – there is no reason for the city whore out all its public space for advertising just to make a little more money. If you want to go that route, why not put billboards on all our trees, on City Hall, in front of the Nathan Phillips Square fountains. These awful bins will ruin the streetscape and make our city look awful.” | [Blank] |
| 541 | 08/09/2005 09:37:46 AM | Yes | Bloor and Windemere | No | “It was confusing, I had to take a few seconds to figure out what was going on. Most garbage/recylcing bins are easy to use.” | Yes | POORLY! One intake for refuse is facing the ROAD. They are also a huge eyesore. | No | “If I paid you to make the city look ugly, I assume you would take my money.” | Civic pride is worth more than a few dollars revenue from ugly/hard-to-use trash bins. |
| 542 | 08/09/2005 10:04:25 AM | Yes | Lakeshore & Mimico | No | [Blank] | No | “the side closest to the street is unsafe. Getting taken out by a bus because i wanna ditch my gum? No, Thanks.” | No | [Blank] | I don’t want to see these eyesores in my city. |
| 543 | 08/09/2005 10:18:00 AM | Yes | Southwest corner – College Street and Bathurst | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “I knew that the garbage cans were being placed throughout the City and I knew what they looked like as I had seen pictures. However, I walked by the one at College and Bathurst several times before I realized what it was (even though there was a sign on it saying it was a garbage can). It just looked like a huge intrusion – visually and physically – such that I didn’t specifically process what it was.” | No | Apart from the way they look and the amount of space they consume – which I find incredibly invasive – what bothers me most is that the City voted to ban ‘postering’ across the City because of how it looks but then decides its okay to have these huge advertising spaces on garbage cans. These look far worse than small posters. | Get rid of them. |
| 544 | 08/09/2005 11:12:13 AM | Yes | Don Mills & Lawrence | No | The opening to place garbage was extremely small and impossible to insert garbage without my hand making contact with the flap. | No | “It did not occur to me nor would it occur to anyone that the garbage is at both ends. The bin does not look like a garbage, the size is totally out of scale with function as garbage can and is a dangerous obstrunction on the street. The lack quality in manufacture and design is not in keeping with the standards of Toronto.” | No | “The City can easily have garbage cans that are better designed, more compact, better constructed with or without advertising. This the wrong solution!” | “- Reduce the overal size to address the garbage function as the first priority.- Make design barrier-free,- reduce height and raise off the ground to improve safety and traffic considerations.- Eliminate lighting (inappropriate),- Alter garbage openings so that users can insert garbage easily and efficiently,- Coordinate design with other City street furniture.- Design form of garbage can so that the public can recognize the garbage cans from a distance.- Reduce size and position on City sidewalks to improve pedestrian flow on sidewalks.” |
| 545 | 08/09/2005 11:15:13 AM | Yes | Victoria Park and Kingston Rd. | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “I didn’t bother to read the sign until I was waiting for the bus. If the large-side information is replaced by advertising, someone walking along might miss the openings on the side. It might be better placed on a diagonal, rather than at right angles to the street.” | No opinion | [Blank] | Garbages in Toronto all seem to fill-up too fast. I think more capacity is needed. |
| 546 | 08/09/2005 11:27:45 AM | Yes | Ossington and Dundas | No | The slots for different sorts of garbage are not intuitive and the signs don’t easily explain where things go. | Yes | Only one side is actually accessible since the other fronts directly onto the street and one would risk getting hit by a passing vehicle when depositing refuse into it. | No | This form in unecessarily immense intrusion into the public realm (the streets) is completely inexcusable and not worth the realitvely meagre amounts of revenue. These bins could not be justified even while pulling in twice the projected amount of revenue. The city is selling out in plain view of all Torontonians if these make it onto our streets. | “Remove the top half of the billboards, I mean bins, that is used soley for advertising and grant them their imposing size. Then we can start talking about a possible redesign of the chutes so people won’t need a lesson in how to dispose of their garbage.If the installation of these bins pass a council vote, it will be a signifying gesture that these surveys are merely done to provide lip service to issues that so many Torontonians genuinely care about. Please listen to your citizens and take our words to heart. Help us love this city and help us make it better.” |
| 547 | 08/09/2005 12:27:18 PM | No | [Blank] | No | I did not use the bin. | No | [Blank] | No | The city should be working to reduce the visual pollution and advertizing noise. Trash bins should reduce the amount of litter visible in an area. These bins are an eyesore. | [Blank] |
| 548 | 08/09/2005 12:44:36 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “Truly only one side of the bin is safe for use, the side proximate to the curb is far too dangerous for pedestrians to access. Was it placed so close in the hopes that passing motorists might make an attempt at launching their garbage into the tiny holes on the curb-facing portion of the “bin”?” | Yes | “They block a dangerous amount of the view of the sidewalk/road from the perspective of the motorists and the pedestrians. The photo here illustrates this effectivily:,http://www.blogto.com/archives/august0905_bigbins.jpg,Motorists making a right turn on this street corner have their view of pedestrian traffic completely obscured by the installed bin. The current waist-high bins are less obstructive. Of course, they are less effective as billboards as well.Only one side of the “bin” (really it’s a “billboard” not a “bin”) is truly useable. The side proximate to the curb requires the user to step off the sidewalk and into the road to access the recepticles. With some blind reaching you can avoid entering traffic, but you still place your limbs at a dangerous proximity to moving vehicles.” | No | “We have enough of our city dedicated to advertisement as it is. The existing bins, with their safer profile, already provide an adequate space for advertising. We don’t need any more billboards. Certainly not ones that are so blatantly dangerous to pedestrians. What I see here is improved advertising space, degraded reciptical facilities and a huge threat to public safety.” | “No, but I’d like to invite someone from the city to respond to the following comments on the bin program:,http://www.blogto.com/city/2005/08/new_eucan_bins_cant_even_fake_it/index.php,Consider it your change to respond to the response. The arguments are well thought out, well articulated. We’d like to hear from the city councillors: why does the city think more advertising space is necessary? Has any other city used these giant sidewalk-based billboards? Have you seen their pedestrian/car accident rate statistics before and after the installation of these bins? Just exactly how much does the city stand to realize in additional revenue if these billboards are implemented?” |
| 549 | 08/09/2005 01:22:10 PM | Yes | “Gerard & Pape,I must add that this location, in front of the now under-construction Gerard Square, is deceitful in my opinion. There is too much visual clutter on this stretch and the sidewalk is very wide, factors which minimize the impact of this large obstruction and advertising space.” | No | “At first, I walked right past the advertisement – not understanding what this giant sign was doing in the middle of the sidewalk. I had garbage in my hand and was on the lookout for one of the shiny stainless steel recycling/garbage centres to which we’ve become accustomed. In short, I didn’t even know it was a garbage can. I can’t see that as positive.” | No | “I don’t like the size of the bin or the fact that the garbage receptacles are concealed. ,Having to walk to the traffic side of the bin to deposit trash does not seem safe to me either. They take up a large part of the sidewalk (most streets cannot spare 5’ of sidewalk space) and create pedestrian congestion. If they are to be free-floating in the sidewalk, perhaps they should be turned parallel to the street so make trash depositing safer and minimize sidewalk congestion.Lastly, I noticed that the bins are almost the exact same size as the billboards on the new bus shelters (existing advertizing revenue). Why not combine the bus shelter with the trash receptacle so you can deposit your trash whilst waiting for the streetcar or bus? Do we need two obstacles the size of a bus shelter cluttering our sidewalks?” | No | “See my above comments. The existing silver and black trash/recycling cans are low-profile, take up less space, and are familiar. We do not need 1500 more 7’ high advertising billboards (in addition to bus shelters, stretcars, and buses) pushing a lifestyle of consumption for the sake of a little revenue.I am completely, 100% against the new bins.” | I’d like to reiterate my comment regarding the size of these bins and their similarity to the bus shelters. The bins are almost the exact same size as the billboards on the new bus shelters (existing advertizing revenue). Why not combine the bus shelter with the trash receptacle so you can deposit your trash whilst waiting for the streetcar or bus? Do we need two obstacles the size of a bus shelter cluttering our sidewalks? |
| 550 | 08/09/2005 01:30:40 PM | Yes | Bloor & Jane | No | “One should not have to think when using a grabage can... simply, put garbage into hole. This monstrosity forces one to 1) identify it as a garbage can, 2) search for an opening, 3) pass garbage or recycalable through a too small opening. I repeat... one shouldn’t have to think when throwing something out. Otherwise it will just end up on the street.” | No | “I think it is terrible. All bins that I have seen obstruct portions of the sidewalk, both for pedestrians walking, but also for sightlines for pedestrians and vehicles. I find them unsafe and in the way.” | No | “No. Absolutely not. These bins are a monstrosity. Not only do they not do their job of collecting trash and recycleables very well, they are unsightly and detract from the beauty of this city. Ad revenue should not be the deciding factor when it comes to investment in public space. The city should not pollute the streets these garbage cans.” | [Blank] |
| 551 | 08/09/2005 01:54:56 PM | No | [Blank] | No | “Too complicated, not user-friendly.” | Yes | It’s too big. It blocks the view down the street. Some boxes are placed so that one side is only accessible from the street. | No | “No, no way, absolutely not. The old bins were ugly enough. I can’t see how the advertisement revenues can compensate for turning the city into a giant ad showroom. Where is the “beautiful city” commitment from City Hall? Adding more ads for jeans and movies hardly qualifies as beautifying in my mind. What it says it “this city for sale”.” | “I would like to know who decided that these monstruosities would not be a complete blight on the city landscape. I drive on Jane Street every day and the neighborhood is not that pretty to start with, and this only makes it worse. I somehow cannot see people in Rosedale or High Park reacting positively when these ugly billboards pop up on the streets. They seem to have no more capacity than the old 3-compartment bins. It blocks the view, the flow of people, and make little practical sense except lining the city coffer. If that’s all it takes, I’m sure you can put up a collection from people who think it’s an visual barbarity and find your lost revenue right there.” |
| 552 | 08/09/2005 01:57:33 PM | Yes | Broadview & Danforth (The Music Hall) | No | It took a while to figure out what it was. It looked like a street-level billboard. | Yes | They take up a lot of room on the sidewalk and the second set of recpticles are way too close to traffic. The sidewalk was already narrow enough. | No | Frankly I’d rather pay $5 more in property taxes than to have to look at these eyesores constatly. I see no problem with the existing trash bins. | “I’d like to know if the bins are illuminated at night and if so, who pays for that. I feel that the bins are too large and too close to traffic. I’d prefer if the bins were combined with the TTC shelters or placed in less intrusive places. I’d also prefer that money be spent on reducing the amount of waste produced instead.” |
| 553 | 08/09/2005 01:59:22 PM | Yes | Kingston Rd and Victoria Park | No | cigarette butt tray not intuitive. right height for garbage | No | “Unfortunately, these garbage bins clutter the streetscape and do not integrate well with their surroundings. They stick out, rather than blend in. ,Here’s something to consider: What areas in the city would be the most desirable for print ads? Now look at those places and see how many garbage units you can actually fit in. Along Queen st west, where the sidewalks are cluttered with people, vendors, bikes, trees, will you be able to install many in that area? Will it really generate much revenue all said and done?,What criteria do you have for the placement of garbage units? At what point is a site considered to be inappropriate given it’s size or pedestrian traffic? Will the city comprimise these criteria for the worse in order to achieve its target number of desirable (for marketers) garbage units? ,Will the city allow the garbage bins to be placed parallel to the street? And who’s storefront (where the owner pays high rent for a desirable location) will you be blocking?” | No | “Just fork out the cash for respectable, subtle and functional garbage collection units.” | “While it is great that the city is making efforts to reduce the cost of a garbage collection unit program and even attempt to generate a stream of income, it is quite unfortunate that the city is furthering the presence of media in our lives. Simply put: DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO HAVE AN ADVERTISMENT ON IT? Try to think about the number of things you see in a day that have advertisements stuck to them: cars, sidewalks, buildings, windows,people, etc. Do we need more, especially in the form of giant bill-boards that ruin the streetscape?” |
| 554 | 08/09/2005 02:43:45 PM | Yes | markham & ellesmere | No | “the signage and info graphics seem complicated and one does not automatically know what to do. Signage should be simplified, and placed closer to the openings.” | Yes | “they are in a busy intersection, which maximises use.” | Yes | “as long as the advertising does not encourage the use of wasteful materials, or things hazardous to one’s health.” | “Generally, the info. design seemed weak. Once I read everything clearly, I understood. But I believe the bins should be usable instinctively, so that people of different languages will know how to use the garbage bins.Also, please use the existing logo, rather than the horribly designed new Toronto logo. It is a disgrace.” |
| 555 | 08/09/2005 03:10:14 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | need another option here – NOT APPLICABLE | Yes | “This seems very dangerous. You cannot see anythign if you are a pedestrian or a motorist. I would feel very unsafe standing next to one of these...the GTA already has enough people hiding in places, why give criminals more options to get their victims?” | No | “What would the city do with the extra money? That’s the clintcher. If they would come up with more crazy ideas like this then DEFINITELY NO! So the City is making money, but making the GTA less safe...come on!” | You should ask tourists what they think of this. I mean the City is trying to boost tourism...I don’t think this will help much. |
| 556 | 08/09/2005 03:23:06 PM | Yes | Danforth and Chester | No | “Bin protrudes too far into sidewalk, so block pedestrian traffic when putting in garbage.” | Yes | “They are atrocious looking. They block the view of the sidewalk. They block pedestrians. They insert vulgar advertising onto beautiful city strips. They are an eyesore.The old ones were fine, except that they could be black, as in Montreal.” | No | “Don’t sell off our sidewalks to advertisers, PLEASE” | [Blank] |
| 557 | 08/09/2005 03:41:56 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | I think they are ugly and take up far too much space including heitht. Why do they have to be soooo tall? | No | “definately not. nothing is for free (I am surprised you are even thinking that!) ,the cost is ugliness and vulgarity when we are in the process of trying to make the city more attractive and people freindly. These are just horrible.” | “Do not continue this program. If you want to increase revenue, look for other sources. There seem to be far too many big vehicles on the roads – how about a surcharge for them? Or perhaps a charge on fast food garbage – we are creating far too much garbage and it needs to be stopped at source, not encouraged by having larger bins!!” |
| 558 | 08/09/2005 03:49:25 PM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | they are ugly and just an excuse for revenue raising through street advertising | No | see above | [Blank] |
| 559 | 08/09/2005 03:56:16 PM | Yes | Pape & Danforth | No | “It was confusing as to what went where, ie which was the opening for recyling, litter, cig. butts. Both the openings and the signage demanded careful reading, which not everyone will be willing to do, and I suspect the result will likely be more litter on the street.” | No | “They block the sightlines of the street and as a result I feel less safe. Being able to see other pedestrians ahead and behind, what stores are open or lit, where cars are parked, all help with my sense of safety. The bins block all these and create a sense of isolation vs. being part of a streetscape. ,The openings for garbage should be obvious as you walk towards them, which they are not. It is not even obvious from a distance that they are anything but a billboard at street level. They also resemble the ads on TTC shelters and I initially thought it was a new TTC stop. ,I am also concerned about the energy used to light the advertising on the bins. Is the city not proactive in conservation strategies?” | No | “Something with lousy functionality, that creates less safe pedestrian areas, but is free is still a bad deal for the public.” | “Please go back to the drawing board on this idea! A garbage bin should be identifiable from 20 ft away, have signage that is simple as to what goes where, should be at maximum 3.5 ft tall so people can see over it, and should be self-sustaining in energy use.” |
| 560 | 08/09/2005 04:18:34 PM | Yes | Dundas & Pacific | No | The space to receive garbage and recycling is small compared to the advertising board and the trash area is cluttered with all the different receptacles. To put anything in the curbside would mean getting on to the street. | Yes | It is obtrusive and blocking site lines to the street. The ad space is competing with shop fronts window displayswhich is a major source of their advertising | No | “Commercial advertising is another form of pollution and our society is not needing more of it, nor should the city gain revenue from it. What exists now is enough ad space, those old bins need to have larger receptacles to put stuff in them” | For a ‘pilot’ or test which these bins are apparently a part of it seems a number of these bins are permantly placed. It doesn’t make sense that a concrete slab and wall retainer was formed so a test bin could be installed at Jane & St. Clair. Was this cost a part of the pilot presumably paid for by the vendor or did we the good taxpayers foot the bill for that wasteful endeavour? |
| 561 | 08/09/2005 04:28:53 PM | Yes | Jane and Foxwell | Yes | It worked as was fairly straight forward | No | “I hate it. It’s in a completely useless spot, obviously picked for its advertising value and not any sort of strategic waste management plan. And blocks the middle of the sidewalk.” | No | “This bin is absolutely horrible. I realize it might mean more revenue for the city, but it’s big, ugly, and blocks off more than half the sidewalk. I would like nothing better than to see it removed immediately.” | “This is a terrible plan. As soon as I heard about this program, I KNEW there’d be one in my neighbourhood. I mean it’s not like these are going to litter The Beach, or Bloor West Village, is it? They’re a horrible monstrosity, and if there was only one thing I could ask of my City Government, it would be to have this removed immediately. In fact, I would rather pay increased taxes and have reasonably sized and positioned garbage bins than to put up with these ridiculous units.” |
| 562 | 08/09/2005 04:42:14 PM | No | [Blank] | No | openings look very small | Yes | PLEASE put them in high traffic areas! | Yes | “Don’t care about advertising, I don’t pay any attention to it. If it doesn’t cost me any more in property taxes, I’m all for it!!” | “It’s about time the city put more garbage receptacles out, I can walk for blocks on Queen Street and not see a bin. I am concerned, however, about the capacity. They don’t look like they hold a lot of stuff. Will they be emptied daily?” |
| 563 | 08/09/2005 04:55:43 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | No | “Such large bins create dangerous blind spots for motorists and pedestrians alike. Also, all ports should be on the same side, pedestrians won’t go out of their way to find the proper hole for their refuse.” | No opinion | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 564 | 08/09/2005 05:01:17 PM | Yes | port union and lawerence | No | it was hard to see the symbols at night | Yes | not too accessable | No | “1st off – thats a loaded question,2nd- whats with the light? Do the garbarge bins really need a light – are we not on a power watch?” | They fill too easily |
| 565 | 08/09/2005 05:02:44 PM | Yes | Dundas & Ossington | No | Easy enough to use (it’s a hole) but not practical. Garbage bin is too small and recycling hole is unpleasant to use and not intuitive. Half the capacity of the bin faces the street. | Yes | “Blocks half the sidewalk which is simply unacceptable. Hinders pedestrian flow, makes it impossible to see what is coming (making you bump in to people). Half the bin capacity faces the street, this isn’t a drive-up garbage bin.” | No | “It cheapens the look of the city and is not appropiate. I love this city and these bins make it look like a cheap whore. Even if the city is getting $100million from these bins it is still not worth it. They’re inconvienient, poorly designed, and just plain wrong. The city could make money by selling advertising on a lot of things, perhaps we should hang ads on City Hall. The line must be drawn somewhere and that line lies before these bins.” | Please remove these inconvenient eyesores immediately. Hundreds more will truly hurt my love of this city and will lead me to vote for any political cendidate who promises to rid this city of the blight. |
| 566 | 08/09/2005 05:29:19 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | Clearly the billboards/garbage cans are meant to grab the attention of passers by. I think that littering the street with distracting advertising can only be a detriment to public safety for both pedestrians and motorists. They will distract drivers from paying attention to the road and will hinder the visibility of pedestrians who are trying to cross the street. | No | “Our city is already over crowded with advertising. Places like Dundas Square are an atrocious blight on our city where the buildings and beauty of our home are covered with gaudy ads hawking cheap trinkets. Why not invest in finding real solutions to our budget woes without putting every square inch of public space up for sale to advertisers who couldn’t care less about our civic pride, beauty and history?” | Say no to these glorified billboards that add nothing to out city. |
| 567 | 08/09/2005 06:14:38 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | TOO HUGE! These things are a danger to people and vehicles. | No | We don’t need more ads all over our city! It’s disgusting! I would rather have trash on the streets then more giant corporations trying to sell me over priced merchandise! | [Blank] |
| 568 | 08/09/2005 06:16:58 PM | Yes | Dundas & Ossington | No | Very confusing on what goes where | No | Billboards don’t belong on the sidewalk | No | We need less advertising in our streets. How is this any different than the possible ban on street signs by merchants? | Concerned about capacity inside the unit. Is it large enough? |
| 569 | 08/09/2005 06:17:37 PM | Yes | Queen & Jameson | Yes | “The garbage bin was easy to use. My boyfriend picked up a two-litre pop bottle that was on the ground & put it in the bottle “hole”. I don’t know if I would have noticed that part.” | Yes | “I think they’re pretty huge & will be vandalized frequently. Do they need that huge “wall”?” | No | “Toronto is already bombarded with advertising. Do we really need it on our garbage, bus shelters, etc.?” | They are better than the old bins with their grimy openings. |
| 570 | 08/09/2005 08:14:41 PM | Yes | [Blank] | No | “no – awkard, you put slots facing the street – these things are evil” | Yes | “they are a danger to pedestrians and motorists, you are going to have people walking out from behind these bins that motorists cant see.” | No | [Blank] | “make them shorter/wider, having them this tall is a danger to the city” |
| 571 | 08/09/2005 08:20:33 PM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington | No | “Awful. It’s a giant billboard, with tiny trash cans built in as an afterthought. Please don’t try to pass this off as a trash can with ads. It’s an advertising vehicle, which blocks off fully half of the sidewalk, and devotes a tiny percentage of its volume to collecting trash. Awful.” | Yes | “They block off just over 50% of the sidewalk, as is the intent, obviously. They completely obscure vision. This makes the sidewalks deeply treacherous. Current trash cans block off perhaps 15% of the sidewalk and do not obscure vision past them.” | No | This is like offering a free lobotomy. ‘Free’ is too expensive when you factor in what the city loses. Note: I am a homeowner who pays city property taxes. | Simply awful. |
| 572 | 08/09/2005 08:26:42 PM | Yes | lakeshore and superior (in mimico) | No | i was disposing of a pop can and had to get my hand very close to the rubber flaps that swallow the cans. it seems this rubber part will become very filthy very quickly and warrent people to not want to go near it. | Yes | they are way too large. unnecessarily large. unfortunately large. | No | “DESIGN PLEASE. i find that although there is a great need for recycling and garbage combination collecting units, the size of those propsed is grossly large. it is dissorienting and somewhat vulgar to have garbage bins bigger than any other item on the sidewalk.” | “we need an appropriate solution for sidewalk recepticals, there must be a design solution to alter this model into something less culturally disruptive.” |
| 573 | 08/09/2005 08:27:34 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | “Too close to traffic, blocking view for both pedestrians and automobile and cycle traffic and hideously innapropriate for what is supposed to be a world class city.” | No | Absolutely not. For the benefit to council of a meager savings our entire city will look like the gardiner. The small size of the actual garbage receptical will require more frequent maintnenance or will be overflowing in no time. | “I suggest that before city council makes such a ridiculous decision, they should make a bylaw to ensure all councillors wear sandwich boards every time they go outside. Get some regular garbage cans and maintain what is supposed to be a great city.” |
| 574 | 08/09/2005 08:37:41 PM | Yes | Don Mills Road – near Ontario Science Centre | No | Half the slots seemed to face the road. I wouldn’t use them – they’re too dangerous to get to! | Yes | They seem to block people walking down the sidewalk. If they were parallel to the road it wouldn’t be such a problem... I’m a little concerned walking past them at night as someone could easily be standing behind them waiting for me to walk past. | No | I don’t have a problem with the ads. But these new bins are just too big to see around and block too much of the sidewalk to walk around. | “The current bins are an o.k. size, but have nasty little openings that you can’t use without getting your hands dirty. These new bins seem to mostly eliminate the “hands dirty” problem, but block the sidewalk to do it. They’re no better, in fact they might even be worse, than what we’ve got now.” |
| 575 | 08/09/2005 08:50:34 PM | Yes | dundas and ossington | No | too concentrated of a spot to put garbage (what if more than one person goes for the bin at once?) and it makes no sense to have an opening facing the road. | Yes | Absolutely stupid. Makes no sense. Are we supposed to walk on the street? | No | do not appreciate increased visual clutter and they are too high. They are impractical. | Please don’t allow these. Re-fit the old ones though with a slot for green-bin material! |
| 576 | 08/09/2005 08:50:57 PM | Yes | Dundas and Ossington | No | “I found it terribly confusing to figure out what belonged where. The old bins are much easier to understand – intuitive right away. These require far too much thinking, make me prone to just throw everything in the ash tray.” | No | “Too big, too much of an intrusion on already-crowded city streets.” | No | “I’m not opposed to advertising on city property, necessarily, but this is obscene.” | “Please don’t move forward with them. They’re the worst of all possible worlds – huge, ugly and completely user unfriendly.” |
| 577 | 08/09/2005 08:53:12 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | They are far too large and impede sidewalk traffic. | No | “They are a blot on the landscape – very ugly, and the ads are an abomination. They disfigure the city.” | Please get rid of them as soon as possible! |
| 578 | 08/09/2005 08:56:16 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | I haven’t seen one yet. | No | they are very big. | Yes | But I would like to see a little less of them. I htink the size obscures the area around it. | smaller |
| 579 | 08/09/2005 09:55:03 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “too tall, ugly...” | No | “I realize that any revenue would be useful fro the city, but I have to say that I am sickened by amount of advertising that is all over our city. Period. I don’t care if it’s generating revenue for the city. I don’t want to see an ad masquerading as a garbage bin anywhere. The super-saturation of consumerism we are faced with everywhere we turn is depressing.” | Please don’t do it! |
| 580 | 08/09/2005 09:57:28 PM | Yes | “I tried to use the bin on danforth avenue, east of broadview avenue” | No | first of all it was stuffed full and overflowing and second of all you couldn’t tell which opening to put things into. Poor design | Yes | “It’s far far too big, to say nothing of unattractive. It takes up too much room on the already over-cluttered streets.” | No | “Why on earth would any city government that is trying to beautify the city fall for such nonsense. The bins are ugly, we have too much ad clutter in our faces already – please don’t do this.” | “What part of “they are ugly, please don’t use them” isn’t clear?” |
| 581 | 08/09/2005 10:36:44 PM | Yes | Markham and Ellesmere | No | I wasn’t sure what waste went in which hole; I had to look around for the sign. I prefer the way the older model of garbage and recyling was labeled. | No | “I do not like the positioning of these new bins. They are too tall, and block the view. They are eyesores. The older bins are only about 4 feet tall, and I prefer them because they do not obstruct the view of the street.” | No | “I do believe a nominal amount of advertising is a fair trade off for a cleaner city, but I strongly prefer the older horizontal model (which also features advertisments).” | “They are huge and ugly blights on the cityscape when compared to the older garbage/recycling bins. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”” |
| 582 | 08/09/2005 11:18:47 PM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | No | “These monstrosities take up too much public space and are visually obstructive and unappealing to the eye.We have enough of the cold, grey steel postmodern look in our banks(not to mention in your face advertising)and other institutions without creating that same corporate look outdoors.” | No | “No, for the reasons mentionned above.We can forego the revenue and save ourselves the frustration of yet more ads invading public spaces.” | “As the old adage says,’If it ain’t broken, no need to fix it’. Let’s keep something of the tradition of garbage disposal in this urban landscape of ours.” |
| 583 | 08/10/2005 02:20:20 AM | Yes | Yes | No | It is hard to find the garbage slot for all the advertising. | Yes | “They look absolutely terrible. They are a blight on the city landscape. They are advertisements disguised as garbage cans. I have been all over Europe and Asia, and never seen anything as brutal as these massive eyesores. How did we ever collect garbage in this city for the last 150 years when they didn’t have advertisements on garbage bins? Are we really such a pathetic city that we will submit to selling out our urban landscape for a few bucks and free adverts?,These things are massive and shocking.” | No | “Look, just raise my property taxes if you need more money. Stop being such spineless wonders. Council has already allowed an abombination happen called “Dundas Square”, stop spreading it around the city.” | “These things are obviously designed with car drivers and the suburbs in mind. In the downtown core these things are totally out of human scale.Govind Rao,763 Crawford street, 537 7889” |
| 584 | 08/10/2005 07:08:33 AM | Yes | Dufferin & King 1 block south; Christie & Bloor | Yes | “The layout was straight forward, of the right height on average and cleaner.” | Yes | At first glance they may be overlooked because they’re of the same design as advertisment boards at bust shelters but upon closer inspection you see them for what they are. | Yes | the ads may help draw attention to the fact that it’s also a garbage bin. | Make sure they’re emptied out more regularly than the current bins set up in place across the city. There are too many of those bins everywhere that have not been touched in over a week and are overflowing and disgusting. |
| 585 | 08/10/2005 08:08:05 AM | No | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | “These Bins are too tall. Bins should be designed lower & wider (like existing bins). Also, the advertising portion is a great idea in terms of generating revenue but it will be an eye sore and, more importantly, a distraction for drivers.” |
| 586 | 08/10/2005 08:12:18 AM | Yes | Pape and Danforth | No | “It was not obvious as to which slot I should be putting my various types of garbage – what happens when the side panels are used for (annoying) advertising rather than instructions on how to use a garbage can. It wasn’t very intuitive... and why is there a place for cigarette butts, but not for organic waste?” | Yes | The are too obtrusive.. at least with the old bins I could see the road from the sidewalk.. | No | “The bins, quite simply, are an eyesore. Please, please, please do not install any more of these awful bins. I am subjected to enough advertising as it is... and to top it off, they’re not even practical.. why are they so high and where’s the compost?” | “Why is there a spot for cigarette butts, but not for organic waste?” |
| 587 | 08/10/2005 08:50:09 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | I think they will impede pedestrian traffic. If the bins remain oriented in the way they are currently from what I can tell one will have to step onto the street to use the side of the bin that faces the roadway. | No | “The city already has enough billboards and advertizing disrupting the streetscape, it will make the city look and feel like a commercial centre and cause neighbourhoods to loose their individual look and feel and cause a loss in sense of community. There are better ways to raise revenue such as increasing the enforcement and colletion of fines for many of the existing bylaws such as the idling bylaw, why not enforce and fine littering and illegal dumping of garbage? Despite recieving the bins for free who will pay for the installation of these bins and the removal and disposal of existing bins? There are many costs associated with garbage bins in addition to the cost of the physical units.” | “Do not install these bins!!! The city should be considering the social impact of being constantly bombarded by commercial advertizing. By accepting these “free” bins from a private company the City is sending a clear message that it can be bought by private interests very easily under the guise of providing better waste disposal facilities. Focus on maintaining existing facilities instead of creating more waste by replacing our existing bins.” |
| 588 | 08/10/2005 09:00:49 AM | No | [Blank] | [Blank] | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | No | [Blank] | [Blank] |
| 589 | 08/10/2005 09:23:13 AM | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | [Blank] | Yes | “Seems quite awkward, it sticks out into the sidewalk and takes up space there instead of being parallel with the curb.” | No | “Too tall, can’t see past them, they are too “in your face”. ,We could get revenue from ones that are not as tall. Probably could get as much $$ from something less obnoxious.” | “The one I met was not vertical, it was tilted to one side. ,I don’t like them, they are too big, especially too high.” |
| 590 | 08/10/2005 10:10:26 AM | Yes | “Bloor West, Roncy; dowtown” | No | “The main advertising panels of the can are so large and overwhleming that it is barely recognizable as a garbage can, and all the different slots are much more confusing than the cans we have now.” | Yes | “They are poorly located on the street and end up being obstructions. They are a terrible eyesore just as we are trying to make toronto a more beautiful and friendly city. They block visibility for cyclists and drivers, not to mention pedestrians. As a woman they make me nervous to walk by at night making an easy hiding spot for someone as I walk down the street. The cans seem to be designed mainly for an giant advertising space, not for the public good. We are bombarded by ads enough in are lives and the size and placement of these makes them especially offensive. They are a terrible addition to the city.” | No | “It is not “free” as we are giving up valuable public space and our right to walk the street without being confronted with giant ads. This is a cost too high. Under no circumstances and I in favour of these bins.” | The illumination of the cans is unbelievable wasteful as we face an energy shortage. It is shameful. |
| 591 | 08/10/2005 10:10:54 AM | Yes | dundas and ossington | No | no yoru lost by all the advertising | No | [Blank] | No | whats wrong with the old bins? This is crazy- the advertising in this city is out of control. We are selling our soul. I like the old bins- we dont need them sucking more electricity either. Im very suprised the city would even consider this. | get rid of them please! |
| 592 | 08/10/2005 10:15:06 AM | No | [Blank] | No | Although I have not used them....I have seen them. I would not have even recognized it as a garbage can. It merely looks like an advertisement. | Yes | “I find it obtrusive and taking up WAY too much public space. Recycling is a major plus and I do agree the last bins were inadequate and vile to touch. However, I do not think this design is necessary or attractive.” | No | I am tired of being advertised to. Can we not just throw away garbage without trying to be sold more garbage? Find a company that uses a more practical (aka less obtrusive) design that will make the city attractive...we do not need more billboards. We need more beauty. | I have said what I needed to say. |
| 593 | 08/10/2005 10:15:24 AM | No | “I had not used the bin, but looked at it carefully. The location was College and Bathurst.” | No | “The opening for the recycling was not obvious (and not used). There was a bunch of plastic containers in the garbage area which is much more obvious. Although the directions were bold and visible on the ADVERTISEMENT section of the bin, we all know that these wil be removed once the test run is over.” | Yes | “Awful, awful, awful. Blocks pedestrian views, blocks view of anything but the advertisement. Forces me to look at something I would rather not and obviously tailored to motorists. I like my view of Toronto sites, stores and people thank you very much. I would rather pay for small, unobstrusive bins at proper locations in the city.” | No | “I am just simply tired of the city continuously turning to corporate support to pay for its infrastructure. These are basic city needs, and should not be exploited by commercial use. Why can’t we “trial-run” a progect that is not so invasive? I would like to be given more options. This does not help me excercise my choice. How exactly is garbage gong to be collected from these awkward bins? I’m sure the collectors are very pleased.” | “Please stop them. Or, if ANYTHING, cut them in half. Please hire people with some more ingenunity, because whoever came up with this is pandering to the interests of commercial companies, and not the needs and values of Toronto’s citizens.Thank you.” |
| 594 | 08/10/2005 10:17:46 AM | Yes | Bloor and Christie | No | “At first I did not even notice it was a garbage bin, I just thought it was an ad. I was confused by the slitted rubber opening for recycables or cigarettes?” | Yes | It’s a distraction from street life and blocks my view of the park. Also a waste of electricity and a further commercialization of out public spaces. There are many beautiful cities in the world that provide bins with out ads. Why can’t we? | No | “We are a rich city, we don’t need to see out public spaces and views. We need public art, not corporate propoganda.” | “I am a prefessional consultant living in the city. It’s corporate initatives like this that put-off my opinion of the city. It’s public initatives like Pedestrian Sundays, the bike system, the TTC, and our parks and trees that make me praise it.Come on City Hall. You can do better.” |
| 595 | 08/10/2005 10:18:26 AM | Yes | Gerrard Square Mall | No | too hard to figure out where the openings for garbage and recycling are | No | the bin take up too much space on the sidewalk | No | [Blank] | I prefer the garbage/recycling bins the city is already using – they’re more attractive and more practical |
| 596 | 08/10/2005 10:19:45 AM | Yes | ossington and dundas | No | “no, i thought it was just a bill board. i didn’t realize it was a recycling container at all.” | No | they are too too too big. and they block pedestrian traffic. | No | can they be redesigned to be a little less intrusive? does the revenue from ads really help that much? are there alternatives. i hate to see our sidewalks become littered with ads. the bus shelter |