Mattresses, couches, garbage bags and even a kitchen sink littered D’Iberville Street in the Ville Marie borough Monday morning, after moving day for thousands of Montrealers.
City work crews behind the wheels of dump trucks and bulldozers repeatedly interrupted traffic as they removed the mountains of curbside trash.
“It is a huge challenge for the city of Montreal the days following the moving day,” Montreal city spokesperson Philippe Sabourin said.
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Crews are working long days in the extreme heat, tackling the aftermath of moving day — an operation that involves picking up 50,000 tons of trash, Sabourin said.
They plan to cover 6,000 kilometres of Montreal city sidewalks to remove miscellaneous items, both large and small.
It might take less than a day to pile up all the garbage, but Sabourin says it will take a lot more to get the streets cleared.
“You have to understand, everything can’t be picked up in one day,” Sabourin said. “We will need more than a few days — maybe even a week.”
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Sabourin says the city recycles the discarded items and invites residents to do the same at one of the seven Ecocentre drop-off points, with the city’s website serving as a valuable resource in indicating the one closest.
Ashti Al, a newly arrived resident of a Sherbrooke apartment, says the sight of the lingering garbage is not pretty.
“It’s ugly, honestly,” Ashti said, standing beside a heap of trash.
Many Montrealers roamed around the city to pick through the trash for reusable items in Ashti’s area, she said.
“It’s nice, honestly,” Ashti said. “You see people with chairs and tables. It’s an event, moving.”
“People came by and they took a lot of things. It kind of pissed me off, because I had an eye on some items, but they really go fast.”