Windsor launches locking trash bins in an effort to clean up downtown

The City of Windsor is trying to clean up trash in its downtown core by giving businesses in the area free, locking trash bins.

The one-year pilot program is part of the Strengthen the Core: (STC) Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan.

One business owner in the area said the initiative "excites me more than I should be excited about garbage."

"We come to work almost every other day with garbage strewn about the alley," said Sarah Dewar of Maiden Lane.

"We constantly have our bins stolen, and we've just kind of stopped investing in them. So, you know, we find ourselves sharing a bin with three other businesses, and it fills up right away."

The new bins hold approximately 360 litres of trash and are designed with gravity locks, which prevent spills and lock out scavengers, said Coun. Renaldo Agostino at a news conference Thursday to launch the program.

Officials have purchased around 125 of them at a per-unit cost of $70, said Manager of Environmental Services Jim Leether. 

Leether said he will check in monthly with participating businesses as it's getting underway and will follow up quarterly after that.

If the program is successful, he hopes to roll it out to the rest of the city, he said.

Dewar believes reducing trash in the neighbourhood will make a difference, but she said more still needs to be done to draw people there.

"If you want to talk about how the Strengthen the Core has improved foot traffic, I would say it has not in any way, shape or form," she said. 

"This is the slowest December we've had in four years, even through COVID, which says a lot."

Dewar said she has noticed small differences such as cleaner alleys and a larger police presence, but many people remain convinced that downtown is "a terrible place."

 "The problems are bigger than just having more police and clean alleys, but it's somewhere and something," she said of the garbage bin project.