Garbage piles up in Point Douglas

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This article was published 17/02/2010 (5948 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A city councillor wonders why some people haven’t figured out the drill regarding a new automated garbage collection system.

Coun. Mike Pagtakhan suggests more needs to be done to get the message across after he discovered his Point Douglas ward was littered Tuesday afternoon with garbage bags after area residents participated in the new automated system for the first time.

"This area will get a lot dirtier before it gets cleaner — that’s my fear," he said. "Some people here aren’t aware they’re supposed to be using the carts, which shocks me because there has been a lot of attention to this the past month.

"People are still throwing their garbage out in plastic bags (on the street)."

Pagtakhan wonders if there was a communication breakdown between the solid waste department and residents in the area.

The city included a detailed information brochure outlining where to put the 240-litre bin and how to store it when handing out the garbage can replacements before the collection period.

However, Pagtakhan wonders whether residents who don’t speak English well understood the information.

"We may have to explore that," he said.

According to census numbers from 2001, 32 per cent of residents in the high-density Point Douglas area belong to visible minority groups — mainly Filipino, south and southeast Asian or Chinese.

Randy Park, acting solid waste manager, said collectors are finding there’s an adjustment period through the first couple weeks of the new system in the northwest corner of the city.

"The second week through is significantly better," he said. "Even with the contractor times, getting through the routes, learning the equipment and everything, things are improving.

"People are learning the system."

Park said some back-lane confusion remains with homeowners in the area. He estimates about 15 per cent of the carts are still on the wrong side of the lane, but that number is shrinking each day.

Pagtakhan would like the city to contract a garbage-bag pickup through the first few weeks of the new service, to ensure litter won’t collect on the street and in the back lanes.

He worries the lack of a transition strategy for those switching to the new system will hurt core-area neighbourhoods like Point Douglas in the long run.

Children and pedestrians could become exposed to significant amounts of trash, which could lead to widespread health issues down the road, the councillor said.

"Perhaps we have to go so far as to have a penalty in place that if you aren’t complying after a certain period of time, you’re going to get stuck with a fine," Pagtakhan said.

Park dismissed that suggestion, saying the system is not even a month old yet.

"Not at this stage," he said. "We’re more worried about what people are throwing out and letting the system work."

adam.wazny@freepress.mb.ca