Carleton Place staff have a bit of a garbage mystery on their hands.
Since the spring, bags of household garbage have been turning up in or near public garbage receptacles in parks and along trails, and staff aren’t quite sure why.
“The garbage started showing up in the parks in the spring and it is continuing,” said Joanne Henderson, manager of recreation and culture.
What makes the sudden appearance of household waste particularly mystifying is that nothing has changed when it comes to the town’s regular garbage collection rules.
In fact, Henderson said recent changes to recycling should mean residents are throwing out less, not more.
“It is very puzzling because with the expanded recycling program there should be less household waste,” Henderson said.
Since Carleton Place joined the provincewide recycling system administered by Circular Materials, residents have more opportunities to divert recyclable material from the garbage stream.
For household garbage, Carleton Place’s rules remain fairly straightforward. Residents can put out one unstickered bag of garbage each week. Any additional bags require a $3 garbage sticker.
Stickers can be purchased individually at town hall or in packages of five or 10 at Shoppers Drug Mart on McNeely Avenue.
Residents get a break during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, when they are permitted to put out up to three unstickered bags.
Bigger items come with bigger sticker requirements.
Large household items, such as couches, chairs and mattresses, require four garbage stickers before they will be collected. Appliances also require four stickers. Anything containing refrigerant, including refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners, must first be properly decommissioned by a certified technician and tagged to show the refrigerant has been removed.
The rules are slightly different for residents of multi-residential buildings with five or more units participating in the town’s curbside collection program. All garbage bags from those properties must be stickered.
The town provides property owners with enough stickers each year to cover one bag per unit per week. Tenants should contact their landlord or property owner to receive their allotted stickers. Any additional garbage or large household items must be stickered in accordance with the town’s waste collection bylaw.
For anyone who simply misses garbage day, there is another option besides the nearest park garbage can.
“Residents can utilize the Transfer Station located at 9271 Cavanagh Road to dispose of any material except hazardous waste,” Henderson said.
There is a fee to use the transfer station, but it is open six days a week: Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 7 a.m. to noon.
Henderson said this is not the first time household garbage has appeared in parks and along trails, but the continuing problem has staff concerned.
“Residents are encouraged to reduce household waste by composting and recycling,” she said, adding that information about garbage collection, recycling and other waste diversion options is available on the town’s website.
For now, staff are urging residents to keep household garbage at the curb and leave park and trail receptacles for the coffee cups, dog-waste bags and picnic leftovers they were meant to handle.
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