By Cecilia Nasmith/Today’s Northumberlnad
Though annual community clean-up events cannot proceed as they have in past years, Ontario has announced the first Annual Litter Clean Up Day to encourage everyone to keep neighbourhoods, parks and waterways clean and free of litter and waste.
This provincial day of action reminds us of the importance of our greenspaces, the Town of Cobourg press release said, as well as the role we play in maintaining cleaner, healthier communities for future generations.
Mayor John Henderson expressed his support for the initiative.
“I do encourage citizens to continue to reduce, prevent and divert waste as much as they can,” Henderson said.
“We all need to do our part to keep Cobourg clean, and that includes disposing of gloves and masks properly and not in our parks and waterways.”
The usual clean-up events that would have taken place in May have been postponed until later in the year – to Waste Reduction Week, which takes place Oct. 19 to 25.
While citizens are reminded that it is not safe to pick up litter during the COVID-19 pandemic – and they are urged to refrain from doing so until an official clean-up event is scheduled – they can still take action while staying at home and physically distancing by reducing, preventing and diverting waste.
The press release offered several suggestions:
· Choose products with less packaging, and replace single-use food wraps with reusable storage containers.
· Study up on what goes in the green bin and blue box.
· For anything that does belong in the trash (such as disposable personal protective equipment like gloves and masks), deposit it in garbage bags that are properly tied or sealed.
· Stack the blue box on top of the grey box to keep lighter materials from being blown around.
Many disposal options are available to Northumberland County residents, including curbside pick-up of garbage, recyclables, food waste (in the green bin), and leaf and yard waste. Until May 29, the county is allowing one free bag of garbage per week per household on their regularly scheduled collection day, and the two-bag weekly limit remains in place. County council will determine whether an extension of this date is required.
The county also provides waste-diversion programs at its Community Recycling Centres for such items as electronic waste, Styrofoam, bulky plastics, tires, drywall, scrap metal, freon-containing items, and leaf and yard waste. In combination with curbside collection, the limited access now allowed to CRCs should help ensure residents can dispose of all urgent waste items.
The CRCs are open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on a reduced schedule during the pandemic. The Bewdley site is open Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The Seymour site is open Wednesdays and Fridays. And the Brighton site is open Mondays through Saturdays.
Other restrictions have been instituted in response to the pandemic, such as the number of vehicles allowed to enter the site at a time. As well, payment can only be made by debit and credit card.
Also, while clothing and household hazardous waste have been accepted at the CRCs in the past as part of the county’s waste-diversion programs, they will not be accepted during the COVID-19 emergency. Residents are asked to store these materials until the CRCs resume normal operations.
Finally, with current public-health directives asking people to stay home as much as possible, the county strongly encourages residents to limit trips to the CRCs to essential disposal errands only.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
