Residents say litter is a growing problem in Sudbury

A group of Sudbury residents are frustrated with litter in the community and are working to thwart the ever-growing problem.

“Here is a plastic bottle lying about 15 feet from a garbage can,” resident Tomasz Mrozewski said, adding that he is tired of having to pick up trash. He said Sudbury is the most littered city he has ever lived in.

“It’s really shocking to be walking through such pristine nature, in a city that prides itself so much on its re-greening efforts, to find trash everywhere,” he said.

The litter is so bad that the city has hired six students to work fulltime over the summer to clean up the city’s trash.

Last year, students collected almost 100,000 lbs of litter – which was 30 per cent more than the year before.

Erin Cooney is with the city's collection and recycling program. She said that much of it is caused by the fact that people often do not tarp their loads when they take their garbage to the landfill or move from place to place.

“A lot of it is just bags of garbage that should be at the landfills,” she said. “Or when people dispose of their disposable coffee cups, they throw it out of the window unfortunately."

Cooney said she thinks they've collected even more litter this year.