Toronto councillor calls for return of Tim Hortons drive-thru garbage cans

If you go through a Tim Hortons drive-thru as a part of your daily routine, chances are you might have noticed something missing lately — garbage cans.

However, the change is not sitting well with one Toronto city councillor who believes the initiative is meant to save money.

“I would even go as far as to say I think it’s a deplorable idea to take your normal garbage can and recycling bin away from the drive-thru speaker and put it where you can’t reach it is horrible,” Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker told Global News.

“When people go through the drive-thru, instead of putting it in the garbage – and there’s no garbage can anymore — they’ll just throw it out on the street.”

WATCH: Tim Horton’s removing garbage cans from drive-thru lanes (May 19)

The restaurant chain issued a statement to Global News saying it recently made changes to the placement of waste containers at its locations not as a cost-cutting measure, but in order to “improve the accuracy and efficiency of our waste diversion and recycling programs.”

Under the old system, drivers could deposit cups, bags and other items in a multi-stream waste container at the entrance of the drive-thru. Now, a minimum of two containers are placed at the exterior of each restaurant — one at the front door and one in a “visible/accessible area” near the drive-thru.

“The goal with the new placement is to allow our guests enough time to properly sort materials into the appropriate waste and recycling compartments, which can be difficult in a quick moving drive-thru lane,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, De Baeremaeker said he hopes Tim Hortons will reverse the decision in order to help customers and prevent the littering of cups.

Tom Hayes contributed to this report.