This means that from as early as next month the familiar cans mounted on street light posts, signposts or similar (see image) and which also carry advertising will likely disappear from the cityscape, after more than 20 years of being in place.

Marco Rüütel, CEO of Prisma NET, the outdoor advertising company that handled the contract up to now, told ERR that city authorities themselves estimate the capital's annual costs for handling the two-thirds of street refuse was around €2 million, while putting in place new trash cans or rejuvenating existing ones will cost an additional half a million euros.

The move means the city will lose money due to the loss of both rentals and advertising tax paid by Prisma NET – since the garbage can sites often carried advertising too, and Rüütel estimated the losses here at around a million euros.

The City of Tallinn has cited the need for separate waste collection and the organization of a new tender as reasons for the termination, though the timeline and costs for this process have not yet been determined.

Rüütel stressed that his company has no conflict with the city, but expressed concern that once their contract ends, the removal of street waste might become costlier to residents of the capital.

Talks ground to a halt in spring

He said: "In spring, we reached a point where it was clear that the city could not make a decision or accept any of our proposals."

"Therefore in May, we terminated the contracts, effective from August. Over the summer, we will dismantle the entire network, and that will be the end of it," he added.

As far as the company is aware, Tallinn's Environmental and Public Utilities Department (KeKo), along with Deputy Mayor Pärtel-Peeter Pere (Reform), are expected to come up with a solution by next spring.

"I can't say what will fill this gap, but currently, the city is being divested of these bins," Rüütel added.

Deputy Mayor Pere, who holds the environmental and public utilities portfolio, told ERR why the city could not accept Prisma NET's offer to continue the contract.

He said: "First, we need to start collecting waste separately, and second, we are not convinced that we need as many trash cans in the locations as offered by the company."

Pere noted that there are places in the city which have two or three post-mounted trash cans (see image) close together, or in locations with little pedestrian traffic.

Post-cans in place for over 20 years now

Pere said that these post-mounted trash cans, some over 20 years old and now worn out, are not viable for restoration. Much progress has been made with recycling during that time too.

Even a court case which the city won back in 2007 which required the trash cans to be oriented parallel to the road for traffic safety reasons, rather than perpendicular to the road as they are now, has never been fully implemented.

This type of trash can has "outlived its usefulness, its advertising creates visual pollution, and their placement does not comply with the city's transportation department's requirements," Pere concluded.

Although they did not pay an advertising tax for ads on the trash cans, they did for the advertising panels, amounting to several tens of thousands of euros annually.

The company had not provided the city with information on trash cans' fill rates, which would help determine where and how many bins are needed, Pere said.

Prisma NET operated up to 2,200 post-mounted trash cans city-wide

At its peak Prisma NET had 2,200 post-mounted trash cans across Tallinn. After the initial removal began, about 1,600 remained, while all will be removed by the end of August as noted

Company CEO Marco Rüütel said these trash cans account for about one-third of Tallinn's street waste, or approximately 100 tons per year.

The company spends around €100,000 annually from its advertising revenue for regular waste removal, maintenance, and upkeep of the facilities, he added.

Prisma NET had sought to amend the contracts with the city districts because the current terms were no longer financially viable, with the company paying around €60,000 per year in rent across various agreements, Rüütel added.

"We incurred losses for a couple of years," he said.

Sitting down with city officials, potential solutions such as expanding adding lighting to the panels with winter in mind, did not yield anything.

"We offered various options to expand and improve the network, but the city did not engage with any of these ideas," Rüütel added.

Prisma NET ultimately offered to sell the remaining trash cans to the city for about €200,000, or approximately €150 per bin including removal, cleaning, renovation, and repainting, compared with €300-€400 for new bins, but this was not accepted either.

Deputy mayor: New tender likely announced from end of July

Deputy Mayor Pere said KeKo is to soon announce a new tender for trash cans, possibly by the end of July or in August.

The new tender will facilitate separate waste collection, with the necessary number of bins determined in cooperation with district administrations, which are most familiar with local needs, he said.

City spokesperson Margit Tamm added that as KeKo is currently preparing tenders for installing, emptying, and maintaining the bins, specific numbers on costs cannot be provided yet, and will bne determined in the coming weeks, with locations to be finalized later.

The city does not plan to install temporary trash cans after the existing ones are removed, some new bins are expected to be installed this fall through a public tender, meaning there will not be any temporary solution, Tamm added.

Pere concurred, saying there was no need to fear garbage building up in the streets.

"We are prepared for a crisis, in case Prisma NET removes its trash cans and the streets are left without a significant number of bins, we could quickly deploy something. But so far, we haven't seen a garbage overflow on the streets indicating the need for temporary measures," Pere said.

Some trash cans not affected by this process, ie. mainly not managed by Prisma NET, will remain as they are.

For most of the last 20 years, the Center Party was in office in Tallinn as a single-party government, save for the last couple of years when it was in office with the Social Democrats (SDE). A four-party Reform-SDE-Isamaa-Eesti 200 coalition entered office in the capital in the spring, with Jevgeni Ossinovski (SDE) as mayor.

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