Litterbugs costing city big bucks
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Phil Ambroziak
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EMC News - Some city councillors feel local taxpayers are being cleaned out to cover the cost of cleaning up.
Phil Ambroziak, Ottawa West EMC
Litter such as this is costing Ottawa taxpayers thousands of dollars each year.
According to a news item posted on River ward Coun. Maria McRae's official website, the City of Ottawa is calling on all residents and visitors to pitch in to prevent litter from accumulating in local parks, neighbourhoods and scenic locations by putting their trash where it belongs - in a waste or recycling container. According to the report, the city invests $7.9 million and more than 113,000 hours every year cleaning litter off roadsides and parks.
"I think most people in general would agree that Ottawa is a litter-free and graffiti-free city, but that did not happen by accident," Coun. McRae said. "That has been accomplished through the hard work and continual effort put forth by the volunteers who take part in our annual Spring Clean and Fall Clean the Capital events. Close to $8 million is a lot of money and the hours put into cleaning up litter throughout the city on an annual basis are astronomical. We need to continue working with the community on these clean up campaigns."
She said the Fall Clean the Capital is expected to launch near the end of summer.
According to the City of Ottawa's official website, the city "strives to maintain its reputation as a caring, safe and environmentally responsible community." The site goes on to describe Ottawa as "a clean, green and litter-free city" that encourages community pride, neighbourhood vitality, business prosperity, tourism and preserves a high quality of life for all residents.
"But, even in Ottawa litter is a concern," the site reads. "You can find it on our streets, sidewalks, bus stops, boulevards, parks, beaches, schoolyards and many other locations where it does not belong. The city is responsible for litter pickup on our streets, sidewalks, parks and facilities but we need your help to keep Ottawa's public spaces free of litter."
"As much as the city has an obligation to clean up litter, we have an obligation not to drop it," Coun. McRae continued. "And, if you see something lying on the road or sidewalk, pick it up."
"(Litter) is a problem we'd much rather do without," added Bay ward Coun. Alex Cullen. "We do, however, have to acknowledge the work done by volunteers during the Spring Clean the Capital and Fall Clean the Capital events because without these volunteers, the cost to the taxpayers as far as cleaning up litter is concerned would be much higher. It's sad that we have to go to these lengths (high cost) to keep the community clean, but dealing with litterbugs is a social problem. Kudos to the members of the community who do their part to help out, but I'd much rather that we not have these problems to begin with."
Coun. McRae further described Ottawa as the collective neighbourhood of all city residents, adding that it's up to everyone to keep the city clean. She also explained that keeping litter off the streets could result in lower costs for litter clean up in the future.
"Being efficient and keeping taxes low is always a goal, but the money used to cover the cost of litter clean up could be used for so many other things such as snow removal or recreational programming," she said.
"We have lots of other priorities such as social housing needs, infrastructure needs, seniors in need of recreational programming, so there are many other uses this money could accommodate," Coun. Cullen noted. "Unfortunately, we're a very disposable society in that we don't think about how much it costs to clean up that coffee cup or chocolate bar wrapper."
Coun. McRae described the act of littering as being behaviourally driven, further reiterating the fact that she's much rather see the money spent on cleaning trash off the streets used for other purposes.
"It may sound like a cliché, but picking up so much waste just seems like such a waste," she said.
Kitchissippi ward Coun. Christine Leadman was on holidays and could not be reached by EMC deadline.
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