Talking trash

Heritage Community tries to clean up its streets

by Melanie Taylor, contributor

Something foul is underfoot in the Heritage Community in Regina.

The area struggles with members of other communities using the dumpsters there instead of paying to haul their extra garbage to the dump. The excess waste causes dumpsters to overflow, and garbage spreads through the community. 

“This community is not a city dump,” said Brady Burnett, liaison for the Heritage Community Association (HCA). 

The city may have a solution. It plans to convert all back alley dumpsters in Regina to individual roll-out bins. Each home will be allowed two bins. One will be for garbage, one for recycling. 

Regina has 60,000 single-family dwellings. Just over half of those already use roll-out bins. By 2013, the city hopes to convert the remaining homes from back alley dumpsters to the roll-outs.  To test this plan, the city will start with 300 houses in the Heritage community.

HCA hasn’t been informed of the timeline or project details yet, but Burnett is optimistic about the project.

“I am personally excited. The sooner the better,” said Burnett. 

Not everyone is excited about the switch. Al Abram is a member of the community. He thinks the majority of people in the area will disapprove. He says many residents, including himself, are renovating, which creates a lot of garbage – possibly more than the roll-outs will be able to handle. Fred Clipsham, a city councillor representing Heritage, acknowledges many residents will be opposed to the change.

“It will be an interesting experiment,” said Clipsham. “It won’t be a totally smooth process.”  

Clipsham will have to wait to see the results of the experiment. Dumpsters won’t be removed for several years. Until then, HCA would like the city to do something about the garbage problem that exists now. 

“In the meantime, are we just supposed to live with this mess?” asked Burnett.

He also has a problem with missing dumpster lids. Typically, dumpsters without lids overflow. HCA has asked the city to replace them, but says they were told by Arnie Bauer, manager of solid waste collection, that the city can’t replace the lids because there are none available.

Bauer denies this.

“If we get a call [that a lid is missing], we’ll go replace it,” said Bauer, “just tell us a specific location.”

But, Bauer continued, “We plan to get away from containers, so why replace them.”

For now, it seems like Heritage will be waiting a while longer to have their garbage problem taken care of.