Letters to Editor re: garbage

As I have brought up here on my site a few times, there has been a growing concern with the amount of trash collecting along the side of Louis St Laurent in ward 6.  Since the opening of the new high school (Craig Kielburger Secondary School) earlier last month, there has been a growing problem regarding garbage.

This frustration has led to what I assume is more than one letter to the editor of the Milton Canadian Champion.

Dear Editor:

I’m a Milton resident and I live close to the new Craig Keilburger Secondary School at the corner of Fourth Line and Louis St. Laurent Avenue.

Since school began, there has been a huge increase in the amount of garbage along the bike path and sidewalk area running from the high school to the Metro plaza.

Recently, while I was out for a walk with my family, my husband picked up a full shopping bag worth of trash.

I have noticed two garbage bins put in by the Town along this stretch, however, they quickly overflow. Two isn’t enough.

Brenda Lacey

Milton

Thank you Brenda for sending that letter.  What follows here are not excuses for the garbage, but it can provide a little insight as to what has happened and what we are doing at the Town of Milton to address it.

When the new high school opened in September there were some delays in the completion of the school cafeteria.  From what I understand now, those issues have been fixed and it is now functional for students to eat their lunches during break time.  Seeing how the students didn’t have anywhere to go for lunch hour, many students (and I do mean MANY) made their way up Louis St Laurent Avenue towards the Metro mall for lunch.

What was happening on the way back is the students ended up throwing their garbage along side of the road as they returned to school.  This as you can expect, caused quite a bit of mess and that is unacceptable.

The town has now installed two garbage containers alongside the street with the hopes the students at CKSS will use them to dispose of their garbage as they head back to school.  So far, its seems to have improved, but not to the point where I or any resident in the area would find to be acceptable.

The students are being urged by their principal through announcements and assemblies not to toss their waste along the street at any time and hopefully the message will get through to them.  Another problem that has come up with the installation of the garbage containers is some people in the area are using them for their own garbage.  This causes them to overflow, and in turn doesn’t help at all solving the problem.

If you miss your Monday morning garbage pickup, please do not use these containers for your excess bags.  Staff is aware of the problem and is doing what it can to pick up the waste when it does overflow so that we don’t continue to have this problem.

I would just like to let residents in the area know that we are looking into it and doing what we can to help solve the problem.  Personally, I would like to ask students at CKSS, many of them I met yesterday at the grand opening of their school to work with us, and not dump garbage on the road.  CKSS is now a big part of our area and some might say a second home to our kids and hopefully they will treat this “home” with the same respect they treat their own home and surrounding area.

Thank you for sending the letter with your concerns and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to call or email me mike.cluett@milton.ca anytime.

I’ll see you at the doors.