Mayor John Tory says it’s time to contract out trash collection east of Yonge Street, calling it a “no-brainer”.

“The best possible service at the lowest possible cost. That is what we’re seeking,” Tory said this morning in an outside announcement.

The mayor explained that a new staff report will be conducted to see if it makes sense to contract out garbage collection from east of Yonge Street to the Scarborough-Pickering border.

“In particular, staff have said that the new collective agreement with city workers and new data they have on garbage collection costs, mean that much of the previous analysis is out of date and that the numbers have changed considerably,” Tory explained.

A 2015 city staff report recommended council stay with the status quo, a mix of private and public collection.

City works committee chair Jaye Robinson is expected to begin the process this afternoon during a meeting of her members. Private collection west of Yonge Street saves the city $11.7 million a year.

Garbage collection is already contracted out to private companies from west of Yonge Street to the Mississauga border, while unionized city of Toronto workers do the job from east of Yonge Street to the Pickering border.