Holyrood to get rid of ‘misused’ recycling bins

By Mark Squibb

Recycling bins on Duff’s Road and Ridge Road are being misused and consequently will be removed, councillor Steve Winsor informed his fellow councillors last week.

“These bins are not being used for their original intent,” said Winsor, who noted the bins were placed there a number of years ago as a place were people could drop off recyclables but recently some people have taken to dumping household garbage into the bin instead.

“Maybe someone missed their garage day and said, ‘Rather than have it in my box or garage, maybe I’ll just put it down in one of those bins,’” speculated Winsor. “Or someone is driving by on the way to their cabin, and they got something they want to put in there. We can only speculate on the rationale, but our staff are having to deal with it and it’s not really something they should have to deal with, as we do have a curbside (recycling) program, so the plan is to remove them.”

Winsor said the Town will give residents a heads up and communicate its rationale for removing the bins ahead of their removal.

Councillor Bruce King said the decision was regrettable, but necessary.

“It’s unfortunate because a lot of people are using it for what it was designed for, but over the past couple of weeks I’ve seen bags of garbage down there next to the recycling bin, and you can look at it and see, because it’s in the clear plastic, that it’s household garbage, it’s not recycling,” said King. “I know one time people piled carboard boxes up there and the wind took it, and Public Works had to go down and clean it all up. It’s unfortunate, but people need to understand it’s there for recycling. It’s unfortunate, but I support that move.”