Nearly a month after the city cleaned up a pile of garbage in a Burrows-area back lane, city crews could be seen hauling out trash from the riverbank along Waterfront Drive on Tuesday.
However, despite the clean-up efforts, garbage continues to pose an unsightly problem in other parts of the city.
“This is where we are starting to get bad again and we need to make sure that people understand between now and when the snow falls, we want to make sure there’s as much litter off the street as possible,” said Tom Ethans, Executive Director with Take Pride Winnipeg.
Ethans says some areas around the city are worse than others.
“The south along Kenaston and McGillivray, in Polo Park area around the Walmart on Empress, in the north end on Higgins and Main. There’s lots of different areas, it’s not just one area of the city.”
But unlike encampments and abandoned properties, Ethans says trash on the street is more likely due to laziness and therefore can be easily solved if everyone does their part.
“Take your time and take your stuff with you, take it home if you have to. Don’t put it in overflowing bins because that’s only going to make stuff go all over the place and let’s be responsible,” he adds.
Meanwhile, Global News asked the City of Winnipeg on Wednesday about where the responsibility lies for removing garbage in public places and what solutions there may be for this type of garbage cleanup.
The city declined an interview and instead provided a statement: “When the city becomes aware of a location that has a heavy accumulation of loose garbage, the location is first inspected to determine the best remedy for the situation, and then the required work is scheduled by priority for cleanup by a crew equipped with the tools needed to do the work in a quick and efficient way.”
Adding that a location with an excessive accumulation of loose trash can be reported through 3-11.
— With files from Global’s Teagan Rasche