Q&A: Patrick Dovigi, the NHL-goalie-turned-entrepreneur who won Toronto’s lucrative garbage contract
Your company, Green for Life, has multi-million-dollar contracts in Oshawa, Whitby and Hamilton—and now one for 165,000 homes from Yonge Street west to Etobicoke. Not bad for a 32-year-old.
I guess I’ve done well. I just bought a place in Forest Hill.
So you’ll be collecting your own garbage.
Yep. My neighbours are already hounding me to see if they can put out extra bags.
Tell us about your bid. The city currently collects at a yearly cost of $166 per household. You say you can do it for $106. Are people wrong to think your numbers are too good to be true?
They’re 100 per cent wrong. We had 20 people researching this contract for 10 weeks. We followed every city truck that left every yard, noted when they started and counted how many houses they visited, what time they got back in and where they dumped their loads.
And what did you see?
Each truck was collecting from a maximum of 675 houses a day. In Hamilton, my employees collect from up to 930 houses a day in the same amount of time.
So the city employees are slackers?
You can’t blame them. They’re only asked to collect from that many houses.
So is your bid cheap because you work your employees that much harder?
No, our system is more efficient. We use a two-driver team, so they can alternate driving and collecting every half-hour, and they don’t get tired as fast. Also, our trucks can fit more garbage—32 yards to the city’s 25 yards—so they can visit more houses before unloading. And we fuel our trucks at night, so our drivers can just jump in and go at 7 a.m. The city tends to fuel in the mornings, so the last trucks aren’t on the road until 9 a.m.
You gave $1,000 to Rob Ford’s campaign. How do you think he’s done so far?
I think his model is correct. He firmly believes that the private sector can be more efficient than the public sector. I think some services should be privatized and some shouldn’t, but he’s hitting on the ones where he sees the most waste.
What’s a common misunderstanding about the waste management business?
That it’s mafia-owned. People like to think it’s like an episode of The Sopranos. Given my last name, there’s been some suspicion.
Long before you were a trash magnate, you were a star goalie with your sights set on the NHL. How close did you get?
The Edmonton Oilers drafted me 41st overall, but I never really made it beyond the minors.
Who was the best player to score on you?
Pavel Bure made me look pretty stupid.
There’s a clip of you online pummelling another goalie. You could throw a punch.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
After hockey, you studied business management at Ryerson, then worked with Kiss frontman Gene Simmons. What’s the story there?
Gene wanted to make an uncensored TV channel called No Good TV. We’d air uncut videos that couldn’t play on regular TV. I was a director.
What’s it like to hang out with Gene?
There are always lots of girls with him, but I’m not sure how many you’d want to take home to Mom.
No Good TV filed for bankruptcy. What went wrong?
Advertising. Corporate America didn’t want to be associated with people swearing and taking their tops off.
Speaking of bankruptcy: if Green for Life implodes, is the city screwed?
No. We put up a $17-million bond, plus a $4-million letter of credit, which is basically cash. But we’ll do a good job. Otherwise my neighbours will be all over me.
How dare he expose the public sector for being so inefficient. He needs to be put in jail.
Even as PC as Patrick tried to be here, his comments are just another shining example of inefficiencies in the public sector. I know not all public employees are lazy and unproductive but without the massive unions protecting those that are most would be unemployed. Even for those that don’t like Rob Ford it is hard to argue there isn’t plenty of gravy in the public sector.
Forest Hill? Gross.
I’ve worked for the city in a management position and the reality is that the Union tries keeping their members happy by keeping the work unionized and very good pay and benefits. Management works a very fine line to ensure the union is happy while still trying to be effective and efficient. It is a delicate line, you can’t initiate bold moves for efficiency because the union will reject them or create barriers. This is the reality, I lived it for 15 years and as a professional I realized I could make more money elsewhere. The city pays everyone well instead of paying the top talent what they deserve and the more menial jobs what they deserve.
Its not that anybody is lazy, its how the union heads decide to run the show. Most union members want further challenges but to ensure the black sheep is treated fairly they keep the playing field even.
I am all for finding efficiencies and outsourcing menial jobs. The City is not a job bank and should not be run recklessly like it has. This is not a left or right wing issue, it is doing what is right. It seems like too many people have either vested interests or are living in a fantasy land.
This company can do it faster because they will not allow bins to be used at the curb. They pull up, grab the(limit 4 small) bags, that is if they’re the right dimension and not too heavy, throw them in the hopper and on to the next. The city has these bins on wheels that have to be rolled out usually in between parked cars, which sometimes don’t fit between the parked cars, line up the bin and wait for the hydrolic lift to raise EACH AND EVERY bin into the hopper. What do you think takes more time ? Who implemented these bins ???? CITY. Ask any City waste collector, they’ll tell ya grabbing and throwing bags was way faster, and far more efficient.
I agree with Joe on this.. I used to work in the garbage collection before I went to my new department (which runs very efficiently might I add compared to the private sector). When we used to collect the garbage and recycling from curb-side by throwing it into the hopper it was much quicker. The workers loved it because we could RUN through the routes. Then the CITY had to come out with these awesome new bins that were to make life easier.. Well not only did the workers complain but also the residents complained because now they had to hide these big bins.. If you want to blame someone for inefficiencies don’t plan the union or workers.. Blame the city that makes the changes.. How is it the workers faults that the city made this change, or that the trucks can’t hold as much garbage which in the end relates to more stopping on the routes to go empty the truck.. How is it the union/employees faults that the routes are smaller?? IT’S NOT…. It is the City’s fault and this is in the end how they make the union look bad..
I like when people say “union people don’t like to work” or “we are lazy”.. Or “Give the jobs to people who want them”…. Everyone wants a job and wants to be treated fairly.. It’s because of unions that other in the “private” sector also get better wages… It’s about time people realize that… Do you want to get paid $10/hr while you big bosses upstairs are make $100.000++ for doing what.. Make some decisions and signing some paperwork… While everyone below is doing all the work for them and making just enough to live… Or do you want to make $20+/hr and live good and have your bosses making a little less??? To me this is a no brainer.. If it wasn’t for the little workers below those big bosses wouldn’t even have jobs..
Like I said I am in a new department.. I like to work and I do extra work that isn’t even my job.. Like maintaing the truck and fixing things myself. Doing extra work on my straight 8hours even tho I was only asked to do less work.. My department as far as money goes it not much different then that of the private sector… I get dirty, I am in crappy environments that are not good for your health in the long term.. I put 100% to my work everyday.. I work safe and efficient.. So go ahead now try to tell me that UNION workers are lazy and don’t want jobs… Too bad media has painted such a bad picture of unions.. I have never once seen a media outlet go and personally ask questions to union workers and get the REAL scope on the work the employees do!!!!!!
I’ve lived in the US almost 10 years now and many municipal services are contracted to the private sector including waste removal. Seems to work quite well for everyone. I’m sure the private sector can provide a good service for less cost and still turn a profit providing many of these services. Fedex, UPS are just a couple of examples that prove this concept, while not totally supplanting public services.
We can all win.
Way to go Patrick!
The headline is misleading. He was never an NHL goalie. He played two (count ’em, two) professional games, in the ECHL — two levels below the NHL. Other than that, the highest level he played at was junior with the Erie Otters.
Ok seriously ppl you are complaining about where he lives and that he really wasn’t in the NHL. Who the heck cares Lloyd Davis…he said where he went and where it ended. He didn’t play it up.
“The Edmonton Oilers drafted me 41st overall, but I never really made it beyond the minors.”
And he didn’t say anything about City Staff being lazy he said “So the city employees are slackers?
You can’t blame them. They’re only asked to collect from that many houses” This is true….they have maps and areas that they are required to do.
Give the guy a break….he is working with the City of Toronto after all and I am sure that they mandate the trucks and bins used. This company collects in Hamilton and they are very efficient. So, stop complaining like a bunch of babies and lets see how the contract goes over time. Any new business will have hiccups.