Slightly higher satisfaction with Toronto private sector waste disposal than public sector disposal
In the benchmark Toronto-wide wave of the Campaign Research Poll, a randomly sampled, representative telephone survey of national, provincial and municipal issues, those who live west of Yonge Street in Toronto and have their waste collected by a private sector contractor have slightly higher levels of strong satisfaction with their service (60% very satisfied) than do those east of Yonge Street, whose waste is collected by city employees (54% very satisfied). Those with city waste disposal are also more likely to be unsatisfied overall (13%) than are those serviced by Green For Life (5%).
RESIDENTS OF TORONTO PREFER CITY EMPLOYEES COLLECTING SOLID WASTE
Despite their stated levels of satisfaction, Torontonians are slightly more likely to indicate they prefer a public sector solid waste collection system using city employees (34%) to a private sector solution (27%). As many as one sixth prefer neither system (17%) and just under a quarter don’t have an opinion on the matter (22%). Those east of Yonge Street are far more likely to prefer city employees (45%) than are those west of Yonge (21%). Curiously, respondents on both sides of Yonge are equally likely to say they prefer a private sector solution (27% each). Union members are far more likely to prefer city employees do the job (51%) than the private sector (5%). On the other hand, respondents with a union member in the household who are not a member themselves prefer the private sector at a higher rate (58%) than all respondents (27%).
PLURLITY APPROVES OF PUTTING SCARBOROUGH WASTE COLLECTION TO BID
More approve of the city’s plan to put waste collection in Scarborough to bid (37%) than do not
approve (30%), while a similar proportion have no opinion (33%). Approval of this plan is
common to those west of Yonge Street (who already have private sector collection - 46%) and
to those with a union member in the household who aren’t members themselves (56%). Other
groups who favour this plan include males (45%) rather than females (28%), those in the Gen X
cohort (45 to 54 - 43%), the wealthiest ($100K to $250K - 49%) and among PC voters provincially (55%).
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MAJORITY FINDS COMPETITVE BID ON WASTE COLLECTION APPROPRIATE FOR CUPE
More than half of Toronto residents say it is appropriate for a public employees’ union (in this
case, CUPE Local 416) to make a competitive bid against the private sector for solid waste
collection (54%), while just one sixth find it inappropriate (16%). Three in ten have no opinion
(30%). Union members are the least likely to think it appropriate for a public sector union to bid
on private sector work (39%).
“While no strong preferences make themselves known, the decision to put solid waste
collection in Scarborough to bid is a popular one, and the majority sees it as perfectly
appropriate for CUPE to take part in the bidding process.” said Eli Yufest, CEO of Campaign
Research. Eli can be reached at eyufest@campaignresearch.ca or at (416) 618 6562
METHODOLOGY
This poll was conducted on January 29, 2017 among a randomly selected sample of 342
Toronto residents. The poll was conducted by Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and has a
margin of error of plus or minus 5%, 19 out of 20 times.
