Private Lane Garbage
Garbage and recycling on our many private lanes continues to be an issue and a workable solution found.
Lanes that provide access to a number of properties and have larger communal garbage and recycling stations continue to have issues with some property owners and visitors simply dumping their garbage and recycling and leaving it for others to clean up. Often, larger household items, that do not get picked up, are left.
Private Lanes should not look like this!
The township needs to work with the lane associations and residents to find a fix for this and ensure that all that can be done to ensure proper storage and pick-up of the garbage and recycling is in place.
There are issues related to how cottagers who are leaving to head home and want to place their garbage and recycling out for collection that may be some days away. Those who are renting a property and then leaving are also contributing to the problem. These people are not residents and most likely don’t care what happens – they are gone.
When I was on council, we used to have an annual Lakes Associations’ Meeting every August. This was also attended by various Lane Associations. Garbage and recycling was always a topic of discussion. I don’t think that this meeting has been held since the new Lake Ecosystems Advisory Committee was created and the obvious pause on things due to COVID-19. This meeting needs to start up again, and I would see that this happens as Mayor.
As I understand things, the township has moved away from larger, Toter style bins. They now support the Cubby style blue box recycle stations that have a shelf that belongs to a residence. They are committed to providing 50% of the total cost of both recycle stations and garbage bins to applicants that qualify.
Signage and education should be the starting point and this is certainly something that can be done. You don’t know if signs will be stolen until you put them up. Of these two, the education is the key part. People need to know what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
The current township position on all by-law enforcement is that it is complaint driven. There is no proactive enforcement at this time. It’s also a matter of actually “catching” someone in the act of “dumping”.
I will suggest that some of the things that a new council can look at are:
· increased financial assistance for bins and stations
· increased frequency of pick-up during the summer months, especially around long weekends
· more centralized locations on private lanes that service a certain number of properties (i.e. 25+) where possible
· township provided signage
· educational materials developed in consultation with Lane Associations
· proactive by-law enforcement
· clearly outlining in the contract with service providers what the expectations are for collection from communal sites
A new Director of Public Services was recently hired. I would be asking him to review what can be done and look to engage the lane association in this. Looking at best practices would also be something to examine.
Once the path forward has been determined, the township would need to look at making any required changes to policies and procedures and perhaps by-laws. The expectation and requirements for how collections are done would need to be reviewed and any changes that are required made. This could be as simple as having a requirement that a blue bin must be placed back in the cubby and not thrown on the groundusce at massa nec sapien auctor gravida in in tellus. Integer tempus, elit in laoreet posuere, lectus neque blandit dui, et placerat urna diam mattis orci. Fusce at massa nec sapien auctor gravida in in tellus. Mauris id fermentum nulla. Quisque congue porttitor ullamcorper. Donec eu est non lacus lacinia semper.