City says winter garbage pickup change didn’t impact litter

After a winter where garbage wasn’t picked up as frequently, the City of Regina hasn’t noticed any more litter on the ground now that spring is here.

City council previously voted to have the garbage collection cycle move to a biweekly schedule during the winter months of 2017-2018 in order to save money.

Now the snow has melted and it doesn’t appear to have made a noticeable difference in the amount of trash lying around.

“Are we seeing any more litter than in previous years? It’s about comparable to last year,” said Ray Morgan, the city’s director of parks and open space.

For the spring clean-up, major arterial roads like Ring Road, Lewvan Drive, Arcola Avenue and Winnipeg Street are getting attention first, with upwards of 25 staff members picking up litter each day for eight hours according to Morgan.

Litter around Regina might not be worse this year, but he indicated it can still be problematic, annoying and unsightly. The issue with garbage is particularly evident for the high traffic and high visibility areas like Ring Road.

“Two days after we cleaned up, somebody hadn’t tarped their load and there was litter debris all the way down there. That is so frustrating,” Morgan said.

The city spends anywhere between $250,000 and $350,000 on cleaning up litter each season.