Toronto residents asked to prepare remaining wood debris from ice storm for collection with leaf and yard waste

City of Toronto Media Relations has issued the following:

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News Release:  March 21, 2014

Toronto residents asked to prepare remaining wood debris from ice storm for collection with leaf and yard waste

With the onset of spring, the melting snow will reveal bits and pieces of wood debris generated by the December ice storm. Inaccessible until now, this remaining material will be dealt with through the City of Toronto's leaf and yard waste regular biweekly collection that began March 11.

Residents, in accordance with their local collection calendars, may set their leaf and yard waste out on their regularly scheduled garbage day. Any leftover ice storm wood debris will be removed by these regular leaf and yard waste collection crews, provided the material is set out correctly by 7 a.m. on pickup day.

The diameter of branches must not be larger than 7.5 centimetres (3 inches). For limbs, trunks and stumps that exceed this accepted size, residents must make arrangements with a private company specializing in handling this type of waste. For City collection, branches must be put out in small bundles no longer than 1.2 metres (4 feet) in length and 0.6 metres (2 feet) in width. The maximum height for yard waste containers is 95 centimetres (37 inches) and each container cannot weigh more than 20 kilograms (40 pounds). Kraft paper bags are acceptable containers. The City will not pick up yard waste set out in plastic bags or cardboard boxes.

If residents see large fallen limbs from public trees located on public property, they may call 311 to report it. Residents may also continue to report to 311 fallen or hanging limbs that are potential hazards on the streets and in parks. Appropriate action will be taken to remove them.

The multi-divisional team responsible for removing ice storm wood debris completed cleaning up the streets on January 30 and the removal of fallen wood debris in City parks was finished on February 24. Crews responded to service requests initiated by calls to 311 made in early February by picking up reported leftover street wood debris. Residents were informed at that time that any tree debris not reported to 311 by February 3 would be picked up when the City begins leaf and yard waste collection on March 11.

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms

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Media contact: Pat Barrett, Strategic Communications, 416-392-4716, pbarrett@toronto.ca