Cape Breton residents raise stink over missed garbage pickups

Garbage and green bins are seen at the curb on MacKillop Avenue in Coxheath, N.S. (CTV Atlantic / Ryan MacDonald)

When people put their garbage at the end of the driveway on pickup day, they expect it to be gone by day’s end. However, for a lot of residents of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, the service has been inconsistent lately.

“Very unhappy about it,” said Whitney Pier resident Joe Stevens. “I mean, I had to get up and take my garbage to the dump.”

Stevens said his trash was left at the curb outside his French Street home last Friday – a day when the temperature reached roughly 30 C.

He wasn’t the only one.

“My 79-year-old sister’s garbage didn’t get picked up next to me,” said Stevens. “Her garbage had to go to the dump. There’s a lot of people older than me, and how are they getting their garbage to the dump? And once it starts to smell, it ain’t pretty.”

District 8 councillor Steven MacNeil said missed solid waste pickups have been a problem in his area too.

“Sometimes people will go multiple weeks without having their garbage collected,” he told CTV News Monday.

The inconsistent pickups have been an issue since CBRM switched from a private contractor to having its own staff do the work and MacNeil has received plenty of complaints.

“The most so far since being elected, hands down,” he said. “So again, I’m really eager to go to work for our residents and get something changed here.”

Because of the inconvenience, CBRM recently announced it would be temporarily removing the new tipping fees that have been in place for months at the municipal dump.

“It’s a very big deal when people’s garbage doesn’t get picked up,” said CBRM spokesperson Christina Lamey. “That’s something we rely on; it’s a service that’s very important to citizens. We recognize that.”

Lamey said there have been human resources issues in the deployment of the new service, including staff and equipment shortages.

She is assuring people that fixing the problem is a top priority.

“I would say that almost anything could be on the table to discuss how the changes could be worked out so that we get back to service that people need,” said Lamey.

MacNeil added he plans to put the issue forward as an agenda request for the July 30 council meeting, in an effort to solve the problem for good.

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