Wrong kind of garbage collection on Kinver Ave.

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This article was published 11/05/2011 (5443 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a distinction Stanley Knowles principal John Drzystek says his school and the surrounding area could do without.

The Tyndall Park area school is located on King Edward Street near the corner of Kinver Avenue.

Kinver was recently rated the worst residential street in the city for garbage and litter by Take Pride Winnipeg, a non-profit organization that promotes civic pride and keeping the city clean.

Drzystek said staff at Stanley Knowles have been working with students to clean up the area’s image and reputation.

“We are helping take back ownership of the area,” he said, noting that in addition to having students take time to clean the schoolyard, ongoing sustainable development and education programs are being offered.

“For example we have also turned Thursdays into litterless lunch days.”

Tom Ethans, executive director of Take Pride Winnipeg, acknowledged that Kinver is his organization’s “No. 1” priority when it comes to residential streets.

Ethans said the main source of the problem is the mixed use nature of the area.

“While the neighbourhood is for the most part residential, there is a mixed use component to Tyndall Park that doesn’t help. There is recreation, greenspace and businesses operating in the area in addition to housing,” he said.

While Take Pride ranked Kinver as the worst residential road in the city, Lagimodiere Boulevard earned the distinction of being the worst overall road in Winnipeg, according to Ethans.

“Lagimodiere is easily the worst road in the city, but a different problem completely because it is not a residential area,” he said, noting other residential hot spots for garbage include Oakdale Drive in Charleswood and Burrows Avenue in the North End.

“Most residential streets are clean. It is that mixed use area of commercial, recreation, business and residential that really adds to litter.”

Ethans said the solution to the problem is simple — pride and commitment.

“The biggest solution is pride, but the other is spending a little bit of time cleaning your community,” he said.

“If everybody picked up one piece of garbage – that would be more than 600,000 pieces a day.”

A number of schools and neighbourhood associations got into the spirit of cleaning this past weekend. St. John’s Ravenscourt and David Livingstone schools held community clean-ups as did Ma Mawi Chi Itata, Ralph Brown and Luxton Community Centres, Inkster School and St. John’s Resident’s Association in the North End.