East Prince residents frustrated by inconsistent trash collection
Garbage blowing into ditches becoming 'major source of pollution,' says Malpeque Bay's mayor
Mandy Dennis puts her garbage bin at the side of the road outside her home in Hamilton, P.E.I., every Thursday morning, but when it gets collected is anyone's guess.
Garbage pickup has been a problem in eastern Prince County for months, residents say. Sometimes it sits at the side of the road for three or four days.
Everyone agrees: it stinks.
"We're frustrated, and [so are] the neighbours, we're just giving up. It's like ahhh, whatever, you can't a hold of anybody, you can't complain, nobody's offering any solutions," Dennis said.
"Everybody just puts their garbage out now and if it gets picked up it gets picked up, and if not, we've just got piles out there."
Island Waste Management Corporation (IWMC) contracts out garbage collection in East Prince to Label Construction and Sanitation. The region includes Summerside, Kensington, Borden-Carleton and the surrounding areas.
CBC reached out to Label but has yet to hear back.
Heather Myers of IWMC said the inconsistent pickup is due to a lack of staffing.
"We are receiving a lot of calls from customers who are very understandably frustrated because it is very inconvenient and very frustrating to not get your carts collected when they're supposed to be," she said. "And I know they're not happy about it, and we're not happy about it either."
Myers said IWMC has been working with Label to find solutions. Some drivers have been working overtime on Saturdays.
"The biggest issue is that it's caused by staffing shortages, which unfortunately is not unique at this time to the industry, or really to any industry," she said. "It's challenging sometimes to find people to work."
Paul Brown, the mayor of the Rural Municipality of Malpeque Bay, sent a letter to Island Waste Management CEO Karen MacDonald expressing concern that the waste collection process "has become one of the major sources of pollution in our community and we believe it must be addressed at once."
The municipality suggested in its letter that IWMC should work with the company to improve wages, uniforms and other benefits, and to improve the maintenance of its vehicles.
It said waste from over-filled containers is blowing into ditches, farmers' fields and other properties as the region approaches the busiest part of the farm, fishing and tourism season.
"Long-term residents have identified that they have never seen so much waste in the ditches," the letter said.
Dennis, who has lived in East Prince for about five years, said residents do their best to pick up the debris, but are reluctant to bring their bins in at night because they don't want to miss the truck if it comes the next morning.
"I don't know what the answer is, but there has to be a way to find people to fill those jobs," she said.
"We pay our money and our taxes and we'd just like our garbage to be cleaned up."
With files from Steve Bruce