The union representing Toronto's garbage collectors lashed out at a plan to privatize the city's services on Thursday, warning that the public was being misled and would end up in worse shape if the plan is approved.

Mark Ferguson, CUPE Local 416 president, said a report that suggested privatizing collection on the west side of the city would save millions of dollars was untrue and said the cost of Toronto's public garbage collection system was among the lowest in the province.

‘This administration is trying to rush through a contract to the private sector under the cover of darkness and the taxpayers don't even realize the risks that are at play," Ferguson told a press conference on Thursday.

Ferguson was responding to the release of a report earlier in the week, which recommended privatizing garbage for 165,000 homes west of Yonge Street.

The report suggested cutting about 300 jobs and estimated savings of about $8 million a year.

Coun. Denzil Minnan-Wong, chair of the public works committee, has promised the change will not result in any service cuts or changes to the city's environmental initiatives.

On Thursday, he said time will prove whether privatizing garbage pickup will save as much as the city expects it will.

"The proof will be in the pudding. If there isn't any savings to be had, we won't be going forward," Minnan-Wong said.

Ferguson dismissed the savings estimated as nonfactual, calling the numbers skewed and misleading to the public. He questioned the secretively surrounding the report, which several councillors have complained they were not allowed to see.

"This administration has shown a disturbing trend to make decisions in the dark, and that is not good for the taxpayers in this city," Ferguson said.

According to figures presented by CUPE on Thursday:

  • Toronto's publicly owned trash collection costs 30 per cent less than the provincial average for major cities.
  • In 2006, the former City of York stopped privatizing their garbage system and began saving $4 million a year.
  • Half of Hamilton's garbage collection is contracted to the private sector and the other half is operated by the city; the public sector collection is five per cent cheaper.
  • In Ottawa, where collection is public in one-sixth of the city, in-house collection has saved $5 million over four years.

Derron Veron, president of CUPE Local 5167 in Hamilton, said his city has struggled with service efficiencies under the private collection system.

"With private you just don't know what you are going to get. It has been a horrible experience in Hamilton, learn from those examples," he told the press conference in Toronto.

The city report, which was released on Monday, recommends privatizing trash removal services for an area stretching from Lake Ontario to Steeles Avenue between Yonge Street and the Humber River to the west.

The region encompasses 165,000 homes and is being considered the first phase of city-wide privatization. The city expects the contract to be worth $20 million and would last seven years.

The report pointed to Etobicoke's private collection system as an example of how contracting out the service would save money.

The plan to privatize garbage was a key issue in Ford's election campaign, during which he attacked former mayor David Miller's handling of a 2009 garbage strike.

The recommendation will likely go to a full council vote next month and, if passed, would go into effect as early as next summer.