In a bid to stop people illegally dumping unwanted household items beside garbage bins throughout the tourist town, the Town of Banff plans to increase its door-to-door pickup service.
On Monday (Sept. 26), council reluctantly directed administration to budget $52,600 a year to hire a new full-time staff member and another $56,000 for a specialized lift gate truck to deal with the unsightly mess.
Council is also sending notice that tougher fines may be implemented for anyone caught illegally discarding large items, like mattresses, fridges, stoves and other unwanted household items.
“It pisses me off people are knowingly littering in a national park, in our community, and it also pisses me off as a taxpayer because I take my stuff to the compound,” said Councillor Stavros Karlos.
“It’s unsightly and inappropriate in a national park community to have this much crap beside our bins.”
Banff has long been struggling with the practice of people illegally discarding unwanted and typically oversized items beside the residential garbage bins.
Officials say the problem is getting worse, even though the municipality provides a self-haul drop-off yard at the industrial compound, and a free scheduled curb-side pick up.
“Apart from being unsightly and hazardous to the public, the financial impact to manage this has also increased,” said Ken Crerar, the Town’s resource recovery supervisor.
The Town’s plan is to increase the frequency of the door-to-door pick-up, as well as having employees roam more often to pick up discarded items.
The free pick-up service typically sees the greatest use in summer, but the weekly capacity is pick-up at 11 addresses, which is usually booked full by Monday afternoon for Friday pick-up.
As well, the current equipment does not have a lift gate, and therefore, presently requires two people to load heavy items into the truck.
Administration’s recommendation is to purchase the additional specialized equipment with a price tag of $56,000 amortized over 10 years, and hire one full-time person, at an annual cot of $52,600.
Other options were explored, such as special mobile bins in dumping hot spots and video surveillance, but none were deemed as effective as the new staff and new equipment.
The Town’s public education program is ongoing, but council directed administration to budget $5,000 a year to enhance the program.
The current fine for unlawful disposal of waste is $150.
Karlos also convinced his colleagues to have bylaws dealing with leaving waste on public and private lands brought back to council to consider increasing fines.
“I would like to see fines doubled or tripled, so there’s a heavy hand coming down,” said Karlos.
“My intention is it’s absurd and it gets people’s attention. If you get caught it would cause significant hardship. We’re offering a service that is free door to door, so don’t do it.”
Coun. Chip Olver said the municipal census indicates a large portion of the population is younger and live here for a short time – and don’t have a vehicle to take their sundry waste to the compound.
“We have a percentage of the population that needs this service,” she said. “I think if we pick up more frequently, our yards will look nice.”
Coun. Leslie Taylor, who initially favoured the cheaper option of putting in special bins to deal with the problem, ended up supporting administration’s recommendation.
She also liked Karlos’ call for tougher penalties.
“If we’re ever lucky to catch someone, I would really like to make an example of them,” she said.
Mayor Karen Sorensen reluctantly agreed, too. “I wish this wasn’t an issue. I wish the education program worked better, but I’m disgusted by the look of the bins.
“It sends a very poor visual of our community and I think we have an obligation to make our town as attractive as possible.”
