Alley dumpsters sent to the curb

By Richard Rolke - Vernon Morning Star Published: May 26, 2009 7:00 PM

Commercial recycling will hit the streets of Vernon despite vocal opposition. Council reconfirmed Monday that curbside blue bag recycling for all businesses in Vernon will begin June 1. “This has been a long process,” said Coun. Mary-Jo O’Keefe of launching recycling and removing dumpsters from public lands in downtown alleys. She added that while some businesses have some concerns, three surveys have shown strong support within the downtown core for getting rid of dumpsters as a way of improving public safety. “The dumpster program won’t be possible unless we have recycling.”

On Monday, council heard from some merchants who question the city’s initiative. “We all want a better solution for downtown,” said Grant Frankiw, with Simply Delicious. One of Frankiw’s main concerns is that dumpsters will only be removed from the public portion of alleys and those on private land can remain.“We’ll be removing 30 to 40 per cent of the dumpsters and the rest will stay. I’m not sure if all of this is worth 30 to 40 per cent,” he said. Frankiw insists that stocking cardboard on non-collection days will present a fire hazard and hanging on to wet waste could lead to health issues. “We don’t have private land so our garbage will stay indoors.”

Frankiw also questions why all merchants will be charged $20.53 a month for recycling although some will have access to dumpsters on private land. “Nobody will be going to these places to pick up so where will this money be going?” he said. Frankiw believes the best alternative is to allow dumpsters with locked steel lids to prevent the spreading of garbage and illegal activities. City officials insist that the recycling program is geared towards items that can be placed into a blue bag and not large amounts of cardboard. “This has no affects on contracts for cardboard (collection),” said Leon Gous, chief administrative officer. O’Keefe believes it’s essential that all businesses in the city participate in recycling — including those with dumpsters on private property — so the costs are kept low. “If we say you can keep a dumpster on private land and we won’t charge you, it just encourages people to put dumpsters on private land,” she said.“It will lead to more graffiti and security problems.”