T.O. on verge of deal with new garbage hauler

TORONTO — The City of Toronto has an agreement in principle with Florida-based Republic Services to take Hogtown’s solid waste south of the border.

As TodaysTrucking.com reported this week, the city was scrambling for a new carrier after Wilson Logistics quit five years into a 20-year contract to haul 1.3 million tonnes of trash to Michigan landfills.

Etobicoke, Ont.-based Wilson had been threatening to walk away from the job since 2004 when the city rejected Wilson’s request to renegotiate the contract because the carrier was experiencing escalating costs due to skyrocketing diesel prices and a new U.S. hours-of-work regime that cut into drivers’ productivity.

What a Dump: T.O. may have found a company
to take its trash to the U.S.

According to the Globe & Mail, the U.S. waste-management giant the city is about to hire also operates the Carleton Farms landfill where Toronto dumps much of its trash. The newspaper states that Republic would likely subcontract the actual haulage to another trucking company.

Calls from TodaysTrucking.com to Republic were not immediately returned.

The city has set aside an extra $4.2-million it will pass along to Republic in attempt to mitigate rising costs. That would bring the bill to about $60-million, according to the Globe.

Earlier this week, Toronto’s general manager of solid waste Richard Butts told TodaysTrucking.com that the city had sat down with Wilson last fall to try to salvage the partnership, but talks once again fell apart.

Butts says the transition to the new carrier should be seamless. “It’s our belief that no one will notice a difference.”

Also included in the new deal will be more flexibility for the city to make contingency plans in case U.S. authorities shut down the border to Canadian garbage — a move that at this point looks to contravene NAFTA law, but could one day be a reality, Butts says.

The city may also spend $500,000 on “tipper,” which would allow officials to act more quickly if garbage had to be immediately dumped in Ontario instead of Michigan.

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— with files from the Globe & Mail