Tim Hortons Tim Turd at the auto show

You can't escape the Tim Hortons piggies at the Auto Show.

Tim Hortons Trash: Now in 2D Video!

Tim Hortons bag trash

Now maybe Tim Hortons customers need all their fingers free to do complex math (e.g., counting to 10) and tossing a Tims turd is the only way they can free up their fingers for dealing with life's complexities. But can't you just scrunch up a wrapper or donut bag and put it in a pocket or something?

John Filion responds

I feel the councilor's response was fair and realistic. It is probably best dealt with at a provincial level. As well, a Ford administration is probably not friendly to any new fees, unless they emerge from his office.

Under the current administration at City Hall, the concept of any type of additional fee would not be positively considered, even if we had the authority to levy one - something I'm not sure of. The Mayor is talking out loud about eliminating the plastic bag fee despite the fact the plastic bag usage is down by approximately 2/3.


Each year I lead a group of residents in a community clean up. Of course, litter quickly reappears, but it is at least a gesture in the right direction. The best solution that I have, although I don't have the office capacity to take it on right now is to introduce a local voluntary system through which local merchants sign on to make arrangements to clean up the mess in front of their businesses or litter that gets distributed throughout the neighbourhood from their businesses such as Starbucks and Tim Hortons. Part of the payback would be that these businesses would be recognized in some way so that residents such as yourself would be more likely to frequent them.


I will be meeting with representatives of all of the condos and home owners group at sometime in the near future and will run this notion by them to determine their interest.

A lovely bunch of Tim Turds

I'm not sure what it is about Tim Hortons piggies but they seem to have this idea any man-made vertical structure is close enough to a trash can and shit their Tim turds like dogs next to a tree. I'll point out, the person charged with making the drop off of a newspaper is not your personal butler. It's not his/her job to clean what you, Tim Hortons piggy, should be doing yourself. Have much pride in your city? Nope.

Move over Trillium?

I was starting to think that the Tim's coffee cup was becoming Toronto's official flower because I see so many of them on the ground.-- Chammy

Too funny. Seen on Urban Toronto.

Sure why not crap up city hall

Maybe city hall would get on a 20-cent deposit law if we actually started just dumping our cups on their doorstep. But all the same it is very depressing when a Tim Hortons piggy can't move his/her ass an extra 8 steps to put takeout trash where it belongs.

Tim Hortons Responds

Thank you for your recent email regarding your concern for the litter caused by Tim Hortons packaging within your community.

Tim Hortons strongly believes we all have a responsibility to protect the environment and that we have an opportunity to take a leadership role in our industry. That being said, I am pleased to share with you our, Sustainability and Responsibility (Making a True DifferenceTM) framework (attached). (note to please attach the SR Summary which can be found on our website, pdf format to the bottom of the email or with the letter). This document is a summary of some of the exciting things that we as a company, are working on.

The three pillars of framework include: Individuals, Communities and The Planet. Our commitment and goals related to our waste diversion and recycling efforts are summarized under Environmental Stewardship. In addition to this information, some more specific programs we have run to help reduce the amount of litter caused by our packaging include:

• Anti-litter messages on all of our packaging items, including a "Do Not Litter" message on all of our take-out cups and on our drive thru exit signs at the majority of our restaurants. • Community Clean-ups: Each year our Restaurant Owners sponsor community clean-ups. Last year we sponsored over 135 of these events across Canada. This number continues to grow each year. • We are working hard to expand our recycling programs to all of our stores, whenever possible. • As an incentive to use a travel mug we offer a 10 cent discount on all travel mug refills. • We sponsor many other educational and awareness programs about litter such as our Earn a Bike Program. This program encourages youth to volunteer to clean up their neighborhoods through community service in order to earn a bicycle. You can read more about this on our website at timhortons.com under the local programs section.

We will continue to work hard and strive to make a true difference.

Sincerely, The TDL Group Corp.,

My response:

You'll agree, however, your solutions have largely failed to keep our streets, parks, beaches, and public transit system reasonably free of takeout cups. I literally see 2-3 cups every block on my way to work. That's simply disgusting. You'll also notice said locations are utterly free of any container with a deposit. Simply put, deposit programs that exist in Ontario and expanded programs in other countries work to keep public places free of such trash. I think it is high time takeout coffee chains accept and prepare for a deposit program. Tim Hortons can lead from the front or face the inevitable PR nightmare when Joe Citizen decides enough is enough.

Pro Tip for Piggy Tim Hortons Customers

 

Not all cement things with holes in them are actually garbage cans. No one is actually going to empty a random cement barrier. Your trash will just blow out of the hole and onto the ground. You may as well just chucked it on the ground.

Your litter

 

 

Coffee deposit idea lost steam in 2008

I lived abroad from 2000 to 2008. I'm surprised to find in 2008 there was some momentum in Ontario and Alberta to institute a takeout cup deposit scheme. The Toronto Star has this article. Money shot quote:

If I were the head of a large coffee company [Tim Hortons], I would say I am spending so much of my time fighting off the bad news by the media – because coffee cups are all over ditches – so why don't we come up with a solution that makes us look like the greenest company around?" Morawski said. "It's not like if they don't do it they will be sitting status quo," she said. "I don't believe that the status quo will last much longer. I think they are going to be pushed by government to do things they don't want to do.

Despite Morawski's prediction, three years later, governments have failed people who actually enjoy clean streets, clean front lawns, and clean bus shelters. However did Toronto get a 5 cent bag fee passed when it can't get a takeout cup deposit law passed? Maybe it's because grocery stores get to keep the 5 cents where as Tim Hortons et al would have to actually work in the lifecycle cost, instead of shifting the burden to city tax payers and property owners who have to pickup piggy Tim Hortons customer trash?

Part of my time abroad I lived in Seoul. Korea had a 5 cent deposit on takeout cups and  if you were drinking in the cafe you were given a glass mug. I mean, I think, coffee chains here offer a glass mug but they seem to leave it up to the customers to ask. In Korea you would be asked straight up "mug or to-go cup?"

Most coffee chains in Korea automated the deposit system. There was a station where you placed your cup in a bin, pressed a button, and got your 5 cents back (well, technically it was a 5 won coin). Myself, I rarely ever took the refund, preferring simply to slip it into one of the recycle chutes and leave. It's natural in any kind of deposit system that a company will take in more than it pays out. By law, Korean coffee chains had to account for the difference and then rebate it to customers in some form. This usually took the form of free Starbucks SWAG 2 or 3 times a year. So, I knew even though I was walking away from 5 cents, I'd get it back in some cool Starbucks SWAG like a mug, tote bag, or cap.

I don't suggest takeout coffee establishments in Toronto have to make sure deposits in = deposits out. There's no doubt a large administrative cost. I would be more than happy if Tim Hortons et al were allowed to keep the difference at the end of each financial quarter.

John Fillion's sotution?

I emailed my city councilor John Fillion about this problem. He answered:

Thank you for your comments.

Errr. Okay maybe I wasn't clear. My response:

I appreciate you thank me for my comments but as my councilor what is your solution to this daily blight? Many take out places have a small discount for people who bring their own mugs but that does not seem to be working to reduce the trash on our streets. We can rush a 5 cent bag fee in but we can't have something as common as a deposit for takeout cups?

Well, let's see if there's an answer.

Today's Tim Hortons trash

What's really sad about this one is it was hurled against a fence within plain sight of a trash can. The Tim Hortons Piggy literally had to walk 6 steps to put it in a trash can but he/she found more joy in crapping up my work's property.

Now on Twitter

http://twitter.com/#!/TimHortonsTrash

Macleans Magazine on the Tim Hortons trash problem

The cups runneth over

A year ago, a Tim Hortons franchise opened in St. Andrews, N.B., and ever since then the chain's disposable coffee cups have been a blight on the quaint summer resort town. Larry Lack, a local organic farm inspector, says the only way to put an end to the mess is to implement a deposit-return system for all throw-away coffee cups. The province already has one in place for a wide variety of beverage containers, including beer bottles and pop cans. So, Lack reasons, why not charge folks a few extra cents when they pick up their morning jolt of java? To get his message across, Lack, 63, collects Tims cups on his walks with his dog, and estimates he now has as many as 500. It's a problem, he says, that goes far beyond his tiny community. "Everywhere I've been, I've seen Tim Hortons cups all over the place," says Lack. "You'll see them in Iqaluit, you'll see them on Pelee Island."

Entry 1: Biggest Tim Hortons Cup Trash Pile

That was quick. Emailer "Jason" of Toronto sent this one:

From the lack of snow, it looks like Jason pulled it from his archives. I guess I'm not the only one to be moved to document the piles of trash Tim Hortons finest piggy customers just dump in public spaces like parks. Parks. Really, Tim Hortons customers? Can you not enjoy a green space without a paper cup of Tim's finest and then chuck it onto the grass?

Got a great photo?

Got a great photo of Tim Hortons trash? Someone has found a "clever" or unusual place to leave their cup instead of holding it until they can find a recycle bin? Spotted the biggest pile of Tim Hortons cups? Maybe someone has, say, left a cup in a holy water font or some unbelievably lazy and piggish place like, oh, a subway seat or a subway floor or a subway bench or a bus seat or a bus floor? Maybe there's a super attractive pile of Tim Hortons cups mere steps away from an actual garbage can (Pro Tip: trash cans are frequently found at your VERY NEXT SUBWAY STOP)?

If so, send your outrageous photos to:

timhortonstrash@gmail.com

I'll be happy to post them right here.

Tim Hortons customers the biggest pigs around?

On my way to work today I decided to count the number of take out coffee cups I see thrown on the ground. I counted 32 Tim Hortons and 0 Starbucks. Everyone trashes on Starbucks but it seems to me Tim Hortons customers generates the most amount of street trash. I dare say, this is such a common sight in Toronto you probably don't even notice it these days. But look around. Look down.

It's sad because my generation was raised with the "give a hoot, don't pollute, don't be a litter bug" message. The thought of throwing trash onto the street, instead of retaining it in some capacity and disposing of it properly, would make me sick in a kind of Clockwork Orange sort of way. It's weird the environmental message these days seems to have leap frogged something as common as "don't shit up your neighborhood" with "ohhh we got to get those corporations to stop with the global warming". James Cameron overflies the oil sands and that's huge news but the biggest daily eyesore street trash gets ignored by the public, press, and politicians.

No drop of water thinks it caused the flood, eh?

The city of Toronto has a 5 cent bag fee. Apparently to keep plastic grocery bags out of landfill. Although it makes me wonder what people use to throw out their garbage if not a plastic bag that looks deceptively like a grocery store bag.

It seems to me for the sake of consistency, the city of Toronto should institute a 20 cent per cup deposit. We have it on bottles, wine bottles, etc.

The beauty of this deposit system is over night you'll get an industry of street people collecting these things and returning them in bulk for cash. Heck, at 20 cents a cup, I saw $6 lying on the ground on my way to work.

(Now of course Tim Hortons is not the only guilty party. Their customers might not be any more piggish than Starbucks or Second Cup. My informal, one day visual survey is in no way scientific. But I might suggest Tims is the leader in take out coffee and hence is a valid target to be named and shamed and take the actual lead in finding some way to deal with this blight.)