Trash blown across the street from a Walmart parking lot has been accumulating for years on Cinemart Drive, until it completely fouled the area on the other side of a guardrail. It was gone within two days after the Star asked Walmart to clean it up.
Talking trash about Walmart? Retail giant comes clean after garbage complaint
Garbage from Walmart’s parking lot appears to have migrated onto Cinemart Drive, but it quickly disappeared when it was pointed out to the retail behemoth.
Trash blown across the street from a Walmart parking lot has been accumulating for years on Cinemart Drive, until it completely fouled the area on the other side of a guardrail. It was gone within two days after the Star asked Walmart to clean it up.
Walmart has a reputation for good deals, but it can be a good neighbour, too.
The proof is in the garbage — or lack of it, now — that accumulated near a large Walmart parking lot, until the retail giant was asked to clean it up.
U.S.-based Walmart is neck-and-neck with Amazon as the world’s largest retailer. It has at least 10,500 stores in 19 countries, including more than 400 in Canada, where about 100,000 people work for it, making it one of our largest employers.
In an unprecedented era of strained relations with the American elephant to the south, it has been suggested that we could push back by boycotting U.S. stores in Canada, like Walmart, Costco and Home Depot.
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But if it was wildly successful, wouldn’t a lot of people be laid off? Most of the employees with those retailers work for not much more than minimum wage. They’re not doing it for fun; we can assume the money they earn puts food on their tables.
So I’ll give that idea a pass, especially after the response from Walmart when I asked it to clean up a trashy situation outside one of its stores.
A friend who shops at the Walmart near Highway 401 and Morningside Avenue said that when he exits , on the south side of the store, he is sickened by the trash along the street, adding it has been accumulating for years.
I went there to take a look and found that if anything, he understated the case. The area on the other side of the guard rail on Cinemart was totally fouled. Even the trees bristled with shredded plastic bags.
It was clear that the refuse likely migrated from the adjacent Walmart parking lot — probably carried across the street by the wind — where customers are obviously not using the trash cans. But that’s another story.
STATUS: I considered asking the city to clean it up, but I thought there’s no harm in asking Walmart. They might claim it’s not their problem, and could technically be right. Maybe they already saw it and shrugged. Or maybe not.
I was unsure where it would go, thinking I might yet end up asking the city to deal with it. But I got a fast reply from Walmart spokesperson Amanda Moss, who said to stay tuned.
Within 48 hours, she said it had been cleaned up. She later sent me photos to prove it, along with a note, saying Walmart “strive(s) to provide the best shopping experience, which includes keeping our stores and surrounding areas clean. Doing our part as neighbours is important to us, and we’ve cleaned up the area. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.”
What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow on Twitter.
What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater
Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow
on Twitter.
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