The issue of garbage being dumped at and around Diabetes Canada donation bins made its way to North Battleford city hall Monday.
Council received correspondence from Diabetes Canada, in the form of a letter asking “Canada's mayors, elected officials and municipal staff to help us to clear garbage and soiled textiles from our donation bin sites in your community.”
The correspondence had noted that some cities have helped out by removing all garbage and soiled donations dumped around their bins. The bins had been temporarily closed on March 23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Diabetes Canada has been urging the public to hold off on bin donations until business resumes.
In the discussion that followed during their meeting Monday night, Councillor Kelli Hawtin noted there had been a “lot of items around the bins” a few weeks earlier. She asked what typically happened when items were dumped around bins – whether they cleaned it up or contracted that out.
Director of Utilities Stewart Schafer responded usually it has been the property owners who cleaned up the mess – the city has not been involved, he said.
As for whether the bins in North Battleford were seeing issues, “when we drove around we didn’t see any last week,” said Schafer.
Councillor Greg Lightfoot also noted employees from the Co-op had been collecting some of the articles and picking them up. He also noted he drove past the bins on his way home and noted few issues.
“They looked clean tonight,” said Lightfoot. “Hopefully people are getting the word out and realizing that because of the COVID-19 issue they’re not picking up items and the bins are full.”
