With thanks to Sam, James, Alyson & all the War Child Canada staff for their encouragement and support of this project.

OK so it’s a quote totally out of context, but now that we’ve got the Commodores in your head we’re hoping to make things ‘all right’ by doing something positive during  the Toronto ‘Garbage Strike.’ From 11:59 PM this Friday (the 27th) until 2 PM on Saturday (the 28th)   3am Saturday the 28th until the end of the strike the FTJCo is mobile on the night shift providing garbage removal for FREE after $10 a bag or 6 for $50 donation is made directly to War Child Canada. By providing this FREE service we limit illegal dumping, keep Toronto clean, get to share some smiles, connect with our community through an awesome cause, and by no means break any provincial Environmental Law This initiative supports both the City of Toronto and the union Local 416 in their ongoing negotiations and we trust that they will see this initiative as a positive program that supports the law and respects the workers .

Email from the Ministry of the Environment regarding legality of this Fund Raiser:

"ENV1283MC-2009-3124

Mr. Ryan Taylor
E-mail: ryan@ftjco.com

The "fund raiser" described in your message would likely fall under
the mandate of the Ontario Ministry of Revenue.  You can visit the web
link at http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/english/publications/client/data.html?sid=4.

We hope you find this helpful."

Updated: We’ve decided to extend the program to get the message out and allow communities time to coordinate, thanks for the tremendous support!

Monday 4am – 7am, Wednesday 4am – 7am, Friday 4am – 7am

Thanks for the support! Trashman is now finished Special Thanks to: Jaime Woo Michael Penney Asaka Yamashita Toby Proctor

In The Media

What the press are saying: Toronto Star, Globe & Mail, CBC News @6 [Video] , CityTV News @6 & Breakfast Television

What the Twitterverse is saying:  http://bit.ly/iPTmo

Sponsors & Partners

Thanks to:  Simon Rollason & Great Lakes Brewery for the use of their vehicles as mini garbage trucks!

The CabbageTown BIA is now supporting the initiative! [More]

"the BIA has hired Matt “Sweeps” McAllister to clean our streets twice a week for the duration of the strike. Sweeps started on Friday and he’s been attacking the big problem areas first. He’ll soon be on top of the worst and then he’ll be able to do smaller litter on the walks and near the curb.

When Sweeps has filled his bags, they’ll be taken to the dump by Ryan Taylor from Fair Trade Jewellers, the new store that’s currently under construction at 523 Parliament. Ryan is doing this as a contribution to the international charity, War Child. All of the fees that he’s collecting will be used to help child soldiers.." 

Posters

Would you like to show support War Child’s ‘Trashman’ in your neighborhood? Please click on an image to download and print these posters (size 8.5/11 in Adobe PDF format):

 *Special thanks to Jason Murphy for the poster graphic and concept

Signing up is a simple process but first some tips on reducing your waste & getting the most from your pick-up (from us or the City)

a. Remove all metal, plastic, and paper including shopping bags and styrofoam. Washing food/beverage containers allows you to store maximum waste without odor or sanitary issues.

b. From the City of Toronto website: "When bringing materials for disposal, please combine Green Bin materials with other garbage, place in securely tied, double plastic bags and bring to any of the drop-off locations". Which means we’ll pick up diapers! …Ugh Yay!  Please try to store out of sunlight & remove all foods and liquids & consider composting in your yard / organizing a community collection.

This suspension of service is a great opportunity for families to discover and implement new ideas for reducing, recycling and waste management, to be applied year round. Here are a couple fantastic ‘green’ resources: http://www.treehugger.com | http://www.davidsuzuki.org | have a suggestion? Please feel free to add your resource in comments & we’ll update.

I’m Sold! Sign me up!

Pick-up area: We are limiting our 1st effort to within Toronto ‘proper’ large donations will obviously expand the coverage area

Pick-up times are based on qty and amount donated please be patient with us and complete the form below with details on where you have placed your bags.  If you’re on twitter consider sending  a tweet to @ryantaylor with #trashman #warchild in the message and help spread the word.

Donations are made by credit card directly to War Child Canada. They set us up a special page here: http://www.warchild.ca/trashman once complete please update the form below with pick-up details. – Please donate based on qty of bags i.e. $10 a bag or 6 for $50. Additional donations are always welcome and very much appreciated.

If you can’t pay by credit card we reluctantly accept cash & cheque please make note on the form below.

But wait there’s more!

Toronto’s Twitterati can enjoy a special treat, for just $20 a bag premium you can enjoy watching my friend, the impeccably dressed Duarte Da Silva a.k.a @modernmod squeamishly carry your trash away while you enjoy your favorite beverage (may we suggest a nice chianti) from the comfort of your porch, lawn or stoop. Oh! Did we mention we were filming this?

Registration Closed.

We’re All Done. Thanks everyone for their support! #trashman 4 #warchild is getting some sleep Zzzz.

Despite the project ending, please consider supporting War Child by donating here http://www.warchild.ca/trashman

City of Toronto LEGAL drop off stations:

View 2009 Garbage Drop-off Locations in a larger map