By CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
WESTMEATH — There’s a littering problem along Rapid Road in Westmeath and Terry McLeish is hopeful Whitewater Region council will help deflate the problem.
In December, Mr. McLeish sent a letter to the mayor and chief administrative officer about littering along a certain stretch of Rapid Road. In the letter he writes, “It’s bush on both sides of the road with no houses so folks throw their trash from their vehicles and have even dumped full garbage bags full. It goes on all year and is an ongoing problem.”
He continued by expressing a desire to have a No Littering sign placed in an appropriate location.
During the public works committee meeting last week, Chief Administrative Officer Christine FitzSimons noted a sign can be erected, but there’s no way to enforce or police it.
Councillor Dave Mackay recalled a certain area near property he owns where garbage was being dumped. A No Dumping sign was erected and the problem was alleviated, he said.
Mayor Hal Johnson noted Rapid Road is a dead-end road, so a sign at the start is all that would be required.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin noted groups of people take it upon themselves to clean up various township and county roads.
“I think this type of promotion is better,” he said. “Signs are expensive. You can put a sign up but if somebody’s going to throw garbage, they’re going to throw it.”
He noted he has put bags in people’s mailboxes along the Kerr Line in hopes of encouraging people to do some clean-up during Pitch-In Week.
Councillor Chris Olmstead said instead of just No Littering signs and making them sound punitive, that signs which say something such as Keep Whitewater Proud, Please Do Not Litter may be more effective. He spoke about this same idea with someone not in this township, and it was successful.
CAO FitzSimons said La Passe resident Phil Cottrell contacted her and is willing to help organize some PitchIn Week events.
Councillor Charlene Jackson suggested people participate in the Adopt-A-Road program, which is used on some Renfrew County roads and in Laurentian Valley township. The cost to the municipality is the erection of a sign and providing items necessary for clean-up during clean-up week, she said. She noted Laurentian Valley has bins that are filled with necessary items to do clean-up, such as gloves, safety vests and bags. The filled bags are left on the side of the road and public works picks them up. She also noted that walkers would be “more than happy” to help clean up area roads during Pitch-In Week.
CAO FitzSimons suggested a sign be erected on Rapid Road as a pilot project and Mr. McLeish can keep her informed on the garbage situation.
Environmental Services manager Steve Hodson said anyone interested in picking up roadside garbage can let him know and leave the bags at the road’s edge to be picked up or they can take it to the landfill site themselves with no tipping fee.
“We have all kinds of people who pick up garbage and bring it into the site and they are never charged a tipping fee,” he said. “Littering is a mentality, it’s a terrible disrespect for the community. You are battling a mentality. You are going to find it’s not going to stop and personally I don’t like the idea of spending money on trying to battle the mentality…it’s not going to go away.
“You can beat your head against the wall with this,” he said.
