Regina councillor defends city’s garbage enforcement plan

A Regina city councillor is defending council’s decision to support increased enforcement when it comes to people not taking out the trash properly.

At its May 18 meeting, council unanimously approved an amendment to the Waste Management Amendment Bylaw that would see fines imposed on property owners who are not putting garbage away properly.

Fines and tags can be imposed if:

• A homeowner’s cart is overfilled and the lid cannot close
• Material is beside the cart or on the cart lid
• Material inside the garbage cart is not bagged
• The cart is left out after pickup and/or not stored on property after collection

Coun. Bob Hawkins says council has heard complaints about loose garbage for a while now and feels something had to be done to address this issue.

“We were having a problem with litter in back lanes. In some cases, (it was) an extreme problem. Part of that problem is caused by the fact that carts aren’t being used properly,” he explained.

“Material is being put beside the cart, carts are left overflowing, garbage in carts is not bagged — all of those things cause a mess. People are concerned about it and we’re stepping up proper enforcement of waste carts.”

Hawkins suggests garbage not being put properly into bins has always been an issue in Regina.

“It has increased over the last year and it is especially noticeable in the spring and the fall,” Hawkins stated.

If a garbage bin is full and residents are placing garbage to the side of the bin, Hawkins says they could always ask the city for a second bin so they aren’t breaking the rules.

“It’s up to the homeowner to make sure their garbage is disposed of properly,” he said. “It may mean they’ll have to contact the city to get an extra cart, but in any event, we can’t have litter in the back alleys and the homeowner has to make sure that there is some way of dealing with their garbage.”

If a garbage truck operator sees any rules being broken, they can tag a homeowner’s bin for a violation. The property owner will then be sent a letter giving them a warning.

From there, further violations will result in a fine of $150 for a first offence, $200 for a second offence and $250 for a third offence.

Hawkins feels issues with trash getting into the bin won’t be a problem moving forward.

“I expect with this new stricter enforcement, it will happen very rarely,” he explained. “We certainly don’t want to do it; we just want to make sure that there is not garbage blowing around in the back lane disturbing all the other neighbours in the back lane.”