Achi news desk-
You might not notice they’re gone until you need one but the litter bins along Lachine Canal have been removed and it raises a lot of questions.
This has caused more littering and it is feared that summer shorts will only make it worse.
The removal of about 30 trash cans along the canal is already being felt by the residents.
“I live in this area and I see a lot of trash just floating on the ground,” said Saint-Henir resident Maika Legut. “I think trash should be in sight. You have to see where they are, and if you don’t then you’re not going to use them.”
Parks Canada says that emptying the trash cans is meant to promote litter reduction, but according to some nearby residents it leads to more litter.
“It doesn’t make sense if we’re trying to keep things clean,” said Nicole Grollo, also at St. Henry.
Dominic Moiro says there will be more pollution as the picnic season begins with the warmer weather.
Last Friday, the federal agency addressed this issue in a post on Facebook, which said: “The goal of this initiative is to encourage citizens to take responsibility for the management of waste destined for landfill sites. It also aims to stop household waste in a bin area for visitors to use.”
Later it is written: “We know that operations on the ground were done quickly and could have surprised some people. An awareness campaign is being prepared.”
The messages are a bit ironic, according to Little Burgundy resident Georges Clermont.
“People just leave them in the corner so that the owner or the apartments can remove them,” he said.
Simon Bacon, a professor of behavioral medicine at Concordia University, said the agency failed to inform the public and that could defeat its purpose.
“I think it will probably lead to more litter along the canal and probably could end up with a whole series of negative consequences and not really anything positive, unfortunately,” he said in an interview.
He said he believed that in this case more might be less.
“Give people better options to properly dispose of their trash,” he said. “If you look at most dog owners, for example, very responsible people, they pick up the dog’s mess after them and then look to dispose of them properly. So if you give them the ability, the facilities to be able to do it, they will do it. “
CTV News reached out to Parks Canada but did not receive a response by press time.
