Resident fed up with neighbourhood litter

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This article was published 13/02/2024 (583 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon woman says she is fuming because of the amount of litter and empty cans of alcohol that she regularly picks up in her west-end neighbourhood, tossed by people of all ages.

Jo-Anne Douglas lives near Vincent Massey High School. She walks her dog Hayden twice a day and takes a bag to pick up after him, but she also carries another bag to clean up all the garbage she sees along the sidewalk, in yards and in the parking lot of a nearby church.

“I just can’t fathom eating or drinking something and then opening my window and dumping it on the ground on someone’s property,” Douglas said. “It just doesn’t make sense to me because it’s such a deliberate act to throw the garbage on somebody’s lawn or on the street.”

Sometimes, Douglas added, she can’t carry all the trash, so she makes an extra trip. “But I shouldn’t have to do that.”

The litter ranges from empty fast-food cups and bags to chocolate milk cartons, water and soft drink bottles, thrown by adults, teens and those even younger.

Not only has there been more litter and garbage, added Douglas, but she has noticed an increase in the type of empty cans on the grounds of the McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church, which is across the street from Vincent Massey High School.

“There are more alcohol cans now than there ever were. This is the first year that I’ve noticed so many drink cans,” Douglas said.

The empty cans of alcohol include Twisted Tea, Arizona Hard Lemon Iced Tea and Snapple Spiked Long Island Iced Tea, all with alcohol content of five per cent, which is about the same as a bottle or can of Canadian beer.

While Douglas said she has never seen people drinking from the cans and dumping them in the church parking lot, drinking alcohol in public is a serious offence, said Sgt. Jason Medwechuk, acting public information officer with Brandon Police Service.

“Anytime that the public sees someone consuming alcohol in public or getting in a motor vehicle and consuming alcohol or cannabis, we definitely want the public to be notifying the Brandon Police Service so we can try and stop that and enforce,” Medwechuk said.

“That is illegal behaviour and dangerous to the public.”

Douglas said she has taken her concerns about the increase in litter in the neighbourhood to Vincent Massey’s principal, and “he sympathizes,” she said.

Vincent Massey High School has a school code of conduct that it expects its students to follow, and when that code is violated, it follows up with students, according to an email sent to the Sun on behalf of the school.

“We are aware of the growing concern in our school community regarding an increase in littering around the school premises and in the surrounding neighbourhood,” the email said.

”This not only affects the aesthetics of our area but also poses a threat to the environment, and it is our desire to be good neighbours. We regularly address this issue with our students and continue to spread awareness about the importance of keeping our surroundings clean by encouraging students to dispose of their trash properly.”

Vincent Massey has an active environmental and climate club that organizes cleanups and other initiatives to instil a sense of responsibility and pride, the school added.

That’s “good news,” said Douglas, who added she hopes people get the big picture — that littering shows disrespect for the neighbourhood.

“It decreases our property values and it’s ugly. And when one person litters, the next person sort of gets permission that, oh, this is a garbage neighbourhood, let’s just toss our garbage, too. So, it feeds on itself and gets worse,” Douglas said.

In downtown Brandon, efforts are already underway to beautify the sidewalks, parks and alleys with the Fresh Start program that operates within the Brandon Neighbourhood Renewal Corporation (BNRC).

Two full-time employees and one on standby provide specialty cleaning services, including preparing homes for bed bug extermination, moving services and cleaning before and after a move.

Working under a contract with the City of Brandon, the Fresh Start employees are tackling the downtown area, from Fourth to 15th streets and from Pacific to Princess avenues.

The crew picks up strewn garbage — even discarded needles, said Denny Lathlin, the program’s supervisor.

“We have two guys downtown with carts, pulling garbage bins, and they go up and down streets and back alleys, picking up garbage that’s laying on public property,” Lathlin said. “And when we have enough, we take it to the landfill.

“Any needles we find are put in containers and those are taken to 7th Street Health Access Centre and they dispose of them.”

The Fresh Start program has had a contract with the city since 2022 and in that first year, Lathlin said they picked up 13,271 pounds of garbage.

Last year, there was a decrease to 7,980 pounds. Lathlin said he hopes the program shows the community that something is being done about the problem of litter in the downtown area.

“It’s actually making our community cleaner, plus it benefits our Fresh Start guys by getting them jobs. If you pick up that one piece of garbage, that’s one piece of garbage off the streets,” said Lathlin.

The fine for anyone caught littering is $100, but if it’s paid within 15 days, the amount is cut in half.

There is also a fine for untidy or unsightly premises or property, and that applies to business and residential properties. That fine is $200, but gets knocked down to $100 if paid within 15 days.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

» X: @enviromichele