18,000 needles collected in Lethbridge in 2023; government funds cleanup

Since 2019, the Alberta government has been providing the City of Lethbridge with an annual grant to support the effective collection and disposal of drug-related debris.

On Tuesday, city administration brought forward a motion to Lethbridge City Council to approve the funding of $115,000 for 2024-2025.

A motion that was unanimously passed, as it has for the past five years.

“The effects of the drug crisis in Lethbridge have been around for a number of years,” said Andrew Malcolm, City of Lethbridge manager of community social development.

“With the closure of the ARCHES site, the provincial government shifted money that was previously allocated to ARCHES for needle collection in the community to the city to pick up,” he explained.

“This is something that we’ve contracted out to the Clean Sweep Program (CSP), so this is just really receiving the funding to continue the services.”

2:01 ARCHES Lethbridge report challenges statements of increased crime and needle debris numbers

The funding will now go towards the Needle Debris Collection Program through CSP, which is managed and operated by the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone (BRZ).

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According to executive director of the Downtown BRZ, Sarah Amies, this funding supports the larger clean sweep.

“Last year, we were able to pick up over 5,000 needles in the downtown. We picked up over 18,000 needles in the remainder of the city, which is what this Alberta government contract allows us to do,” said Amies. “Then as well, we picked up about 3,600 pipes last year across the city as well, so without the program you can imagine just how much drug related debris there would be.”

1:53 Province doubles funding for harm reduction in Lethbridge

The grant allows for the Needle Debris Collection Program to attend already identified debris hotspots in the city, with teams doing cleanups in both the morning and afternoon, five days a week.

“We’re looking at places out by 13^th St. North for instance, there are some very active south side parks that are used a lot that we check regularly,” shared Amies. “The other thing is the hotspot zones don’t stay permanent necessarily, they change as the activity and the movement changes within the city.”

Amies adds the teams handling the drug-related debris have specially manufactured sharps boxes, which are then passed off to a company collecting the bulk of their needles to properly dispose of them, several times a month.

People who come across any drug-related debris are encouraged to call 311 or contact the Needle Debris Hotline directly at 403-332-0722.