Winnipeg recycling depot neighbours want city to keep debris from drifting into their yards

The sign above a row of recycling bins at the St. James Civic Centre reads, "Good for our city. Good for our planet" but residents who live nearby say it isn'tgood for their yards.

Cardboard packaging, drink cups,aluminum cans and other materialsescape the bins and surrounding area at the city-run recycling depot and blow into nearby properties.

Shirley Banks and her family live just a few houses away from the depot. Theyestimatethey pick up two or three bags of debris a week.

"It's enough that I phoned [the city]a couple of times andthey said, 'Oh, we'll come and pick it up,'but that never happened," Banks said."I gave up a long time ago."

Coun. Scott Gillingham (St. James) fielded a few calls from residents about the drifting recyclables. He'stabled a request with the city's water and waste committee to get staff to look at how the depots could be reconfigured.

"Our staff, to their credit, empty the bins three times a week. So that's indicative of how popular recycling and those recycling binsare so it's good that people are using them," Gillingham said.

"[But]we need to work as a city to continue to find a way to make sure that the contents on the site stay on the site and don't get blown to other properties."

Banks says when the community recycling depot at the St. James Civic Centre one of four the city operates around Winnipeg was first established,her husband recommended the city put up fencing to trap loose recycling. Instead, a fence was installed behind the bins only.

"It doesn't catch [material]when people are putting things in [the bins]," Banks said. "If it's windy, it goesrighthere on our street."

Blowing in the wind in Spence

The recycling depot in the lane behind theMagnus Eliason RecreationCentreis a source of similar frustrations for residents in the Spence neighbourhood.

"Because of the placement, we find that the wind blows a lot of the debris from the recycling bins into our yard [and] into our parking spot, especially because they're often overfilled and not managed well," West End resident Jamie Arpin-Ricci told CBC News.

"I think one of the solutions might be more frequent pickup. I know the city probably has better things to do than policing recycling bins, but at the same time, we end up doing the work of keeping our neighbourhood clean," hesaid.

The drifting recycling quickly turns into garbage, Arpin-Ricci says.

"Most of it gets so wet and dirty that it can't go into recycling and ends up in the trash."

The irony of a recycling depot becoming a source of garbage isn't lost on Gillingham.

"Ultimately, if the city wants neighbours to be good neighbours of one another, the City of Winnipeg has to be a good neighbour as well, andthen make sure we're not causing frustration unduly to local residents," Gillingham said.

If the water and waste committee approves Gillingham's request, a report on how to improve the depots could be ready by the end of summer.

Cleaning up Winnipeg recycling depot's mess

4 years ago

Duration 2:12

Recycling, "Good for our city. Good for our planet" but residents who live near a Winnipeg recycling depot say it isn't good for their yards. Material that should be going into bins, often ends up on their property.