TerraCycle Cigarette Waste Receptacle

 

Location: Atrium on Bay

Date photo taken: 29 January 2020

It always makes me mad when I see smokers casually toss away their spent cigarettes. What makes it okay to toss a butt when you wouldn't treat an empty coffee cup the same way? I get that they're small, and that many people think they degrade quickly (they don't), and with a burning end you can't exactly stick it in your pocket. And of course there are those for whom a a coffee cup is the same as a butt, but it can't be everyone or else we'd be drowning in trash. The City of Toronto lists cigarette butts as one of the top litter items in the city and notes they are particularly problematic because they contain toxic chemicals. Some reports indicate that cigarette butts are the most littered item in the world. Businesses and organizations that want to be part of the solution can order these cigarette waste receptacles from TerraCycle and encourage their use. While the boxes are $100 each and facilitate collection, any individual or organization can take part in the UNSMOKE recycling program for free. They just need to collect up their cigarette waste - all parts of extinguished cigarettes, cigarette filters, cigar stubs, outer plastic packaging, inner foil packaging, rolling paper and ash are accepted - request a prepaid mailing label, and call UPS for a pick-up. Participants even receive TerraCycle points per pound of material collected. Points can then be redeemed for cash payments to the non-profit organization or school of their choice or toward a selection of environmentally and socially-minded charitable gifts. Butts collected are shredded and separated into plastics, papers, and organics which are then recycled. 

Ontario shield

Location: Palmerston Avenue
Date photo taken: 11 May 2019

Walk the residential streets of Toronto and you'll see the whole gamut of yard treatments from manicured lawns to wild looking gardens to parking pads. I prefer yards that show a bit of character so I think this one is pretty nifty. In case you're wondering, it's the shield of arms for Ontario. The top portion is the St. George's cross, which is the flag of England, and represents the province's early ties with that country. The three maple leaves on the lower portion represent Canada as a whole, depicted in Ontario's official colours of green and yellow. If you were to add a moose to the right, a deer to the left and a polar bear above, you'd have the province's coat of arms.

Fun facts: Ontario's floral emblem is the trillium, the official tree is the eastern white pine, the official bird is the common loon and the official mineral (yes, there is one!) is the amethyst.

Metal Viking

Location: Dundas St. W. at Brookside Avenue

Date photo taken: 26 May 2019

Ever wanted to take a selfie with a Viking? The opportunity is yours in the parking lot of Dynamic Iron Limited, makers of custom wrought-iron work since 1970. While their website features lots of railings, window grills and furniture, it also includes a sculpture category with a few more whimsical designs. A project not (yet) featured on the website is the unique historical plaque erected in 2014 by the Junction's BIA. It highlights in part the the area's rich rail heritage and the base is fashioned from two train wheels donated by Metrolinx. John Mrsic, who runs the family-owned Dynamic Iron, welded them together. 

Canada Life Beacon

Location: University Avenue, north of Queen

Date photo taken: 31 January 2017

In 1951, the Canada Life Assurance Company added an almost 100 metre tall beacon tower to the top of its stately building on University Avenue. The purpose of the tower was not to signal airplanes, but to transmit the weather forecast. Anyone in the know could look to the tower and decode the light signals to determine what was on its way, and in this, little has changed. The lights might be energy efficient LEDs now, but calls are still placed to the Environment Canada Weather Centre at Pearson several times a day to keep the beacon's message up to date, and the signals themselves are the same. The box at the top of the tower tells what type of weather is coming: steady green for clear skies, steady red for clouds, flashing red for rain and flashing white for snow. The temperature can be discerned from the lights on the support tower. If they are running up, expect it to get warmer, down means cooler, and steady means no change. 

Stormtrooper

Location: University of Toronto Student Union Building, Hart House Circle
Date photo taken: 10 November 2017

Each year the dome of the Student Union Building in Hart House Circle is given a fresh, often whimsical new paint job. This is not a scheduled or even officially sanctioned bit of maintenance, but rather a clandestine operation carried out at night by a group of Engineering students referred to as the BFC. Their motto is Disrupto Ergo Sum and they engage in "seemingly random acts of happenstance, mystery, and s(h)neaky shenanigans". Past designs have included a Pokemon ball, a pumpkin, and R2-D2.

Enercare Centre Living Wall

Location: Enercare Centre, Canadian National Exhibition grounds

Date photo taken: 24 August 2015

This beautiful wall of greenery isn't your typical indoor display of carefully designed synthetic plants. All of the plants on this wall are real and together they work to clean the air inside the Enercare Centre. The Living Wall Biofilter is a system designed to increase indoor air quality and eliminate the need for pumping fresh air in from outside, which saves on heating and cooling costs. It's not the actual plants that clean the air, they just look nice. It's the microbes on and around their roots that do the actual work. Together they make for a wall that is both pretty and pretty cool. The system was designed at the University of Guelph's Controlled Environment System Research Facility and financed in part by the Canadian and European Space Agencies. 

Regent Park Utility Hole Cover

Location: Regent Park

Date photo taken: 25 October 2012

Back in October 2012 this blog featured as its first post a sanitary sewer cover designed for the then-new Regent Park redevelopment. Almost 600 designs were received as part of a design competition held by Toronto Culture from which three winners were chosen. This cover, designed by DeMuth Flake, was the winner for the storm cover design.

For a look at some other manhole covers from around the world, check out the collection of images on Wikimedia Commons.

Lovebot

Location: Outside 9 Trinity Street, Distillery District
Date photo taken: 16 November 2013

This is a Lovebot, one of many that can now be found throughout the city, and with luck, soon to be joined by many more. It's part of a project by artist Matthew Del Degan which, according to the website, is intended "to encourage Torontonians to reflect on their surroundings and become thankful for the small, good deeds that constantly go unnoticed."

This particular Lovebot is dedicated to Nikki Fotheringham, founder of Green Moxie.

To learn more about the Love Invasion, including the location and dedications of other Lovebots, visit lovebot.com.

Ghost Bike

Location: University Avenue at Richmond
Date photo taken: 3 July 2013

This white bicycle is a memorial to Mike Rankin, a veteran courier in his fifties who was killed in a collision with a taxi at this intersection in 2012. The front handlebar bears a small sign with Rankin's name and details.

The ghost bike memorial phenomenon is thought to have started in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003 when someone observing a bike-car collision placed a white bike on the spot with a sign reading "Cyclist struck here". Noticing that the bike had an effect on drivers, other bikes were installed throughout the city and the idea spread. While normally installed as tributes to cyclists killed by cars, a ghost bike in honour of Jack Layton can also be seen outside his former office on Broadview.

Ceramic Barnacle

Location: Corner of building, Parliament and Mill Streets
Date photo taken: 26 October 2012

This is one of many little ceramic markers affixed to hydro poles, buildings and curbs in an area roughly bounded by Berkeley on the east, Front to the north, the Distillery site to the east and Lakeshore to the south. They come in various colours, although all tend toward natural hues (greens, blues, yellows and browns) and they're usually placed well below eye level. In some cases, they're on the ground - affixed to the back corners of the concrete pads that benches sit on in parks. I have no idea who made them, when they were placed around and what, if anything, they're intended to signify. If anyone knows, please leave a comment!

Inoculation

Location: The Esplanade
Date photo taken: 20 June 2013

Back in January, this blog featured the green tree tags that mark healthy ash tree specimens around the city. Recently the tagged trees along the Esplanade received treatment via these small injectors to help them stave off infestation by Emerald Ash Borers, an invasive and highly destructive insect. Once the trees had been treated, their bark was marked by a bright green painted dot.

Smiley Face Heart

Location: Dundas St. W. at Stirling Rd.
Date photo taken: 17 April 2013

Once you see one, you see them everywhere. This heart is one of many placed around the city and beyond by street artist Gregory Alan Elliott. He considers them his brand and for many years he's been posting these little pieces of joy around the city and beyond, or re-creating the look in grass and other mediums.

You can listen to an interview with Elliott by Laura Lefebvre on her blog Street Inspired.

Traffic Graphic

 

Location: Outside the Simcoe Place Parking Garage, 200 Front St. W.

Date photo taken: 25 March 2013

This terrific graphic is located on the pillars which flank the entrance to the Simcoe Place parking garage on Front Street. Obviously it’s intended to inform the public of traffic patterns around the entrance to help keep everyone safe, but it’s also awesome. Also in the category of keeping people safe, a member of the police force is on hand during the evening rush hour to help manage traffic flow. Perhaps this focus on safety is a reflection of the building's tenant: The Workplace Safety & Insurance Board.

Electro-Voice V-15 Microphone

Location: CBC Museum, Canadian Broadcasting Centre, 250 Front St. W.
Date photo taken: 15 Jan 2013

This microphone is one of many on display in the CBC Museum, located on the main floor of the CBC building at Front and John Streets. In this space, and another one on the lower floor, the CBC displays equipment, props, merchandise and more from its long history of radio and television broadcasting. The museum is free and open from 9 to 5, Monday thru Friday.

For more information on what you can see in the CBC building, read the post on Hogspot.

Regent Park Sewer Cover

Location: Regent Street, north of Dundas
Date photo taken: 25 October 2012

How often do you look at the ground below your feet? Sometimes there's some pretty interesting stuff down there. Like this manhole cover, located in the middle of Regent Street in the newly developed Regent Park neighbourhood. Turns out, they're all over the streets there. Thank you Toronto Culture. In a project called Grounds for Art, they invited Torontonians to submit designs for the three types of utility hole covers that are needed on our streets: sanitary, storm sewer and water valve. This is the winning design for the sanitary covers, designed by Xin Xu.