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One man’s trash is another man’s inspiration.
Mark Erickson, a resident of North Central, started voluntarily cleaning up his neighbourhood about a week ago.
Now, he’s rallying more people to help and join his grassroots initiative called “The Garbage Men.”
“It’s about the community, and it’s about helping out, simple as that,” he said.
Mark Erickson lives in North Central and works for the City of Regina as an asphalt maintenance worker. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)
On a chilly spring day, Erickson stood in the parking lot of the 5th Avenue Convenience Store, cooking hot dogs with a big smile on his face.
Music and laughter rang throughout the parking lot.
This is all part of Erickson’s goal. He wants to build a positive community from the ground up.
“I want people to understand that North Central needs help, and it needs people who want to help,” he said.
“It needs people who want to be leaders.”
Erickson said he would stay behind the grill until midnight to make sure everyone was fed. (Nicole Garn/980 CJME)
Erickson has been canvassing the neighbourhood, posting signs and inviting people to help him clean the area.
“It’s our community and we should look after it,” he said.
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Erikson, who calls himself The Garbage Man, is looking forward to future community barbecues and neighbourhood cleanups.
“What’s next for The Garbage Man? A lot of garbage,” he said with a laugh.
Erickson spent all day behind the grill, feeding people and sharing his message of a clean North Central.
He bought all the supplies for the community BBQ with his own money and some donations from friends.
Ward 8 Councillor Shanon Zachidniak stopped by in support of the initiative.
“I’m impressed by Mark’s commitment,” said Zachidniak in an emailed statement.
“This is community-building in its purest form — neighbour to neighbour, person to person. I’m proud to support this effort and grateful to Mark for his leadership and passion.”
Frustration from North Central Homeowners
Homeowners in North Central say garbage accumulates in their back alleys every spring, but this year has been worse than others.
They want to see the City of Regina conduct better bylaw enforcement for trash that is illegally dumped.
Tthe City of Regina said in a statement the city’s debris team works five days a week in the Heritage and North Central neighbourhoods from mid-March until November.
“The debris team cannot clean private property,” the statement read.
“City staff can issue violation warnings and fines for the improper use of waste carts, including overfilled carts or materials left outside of the cart, carts left in alleys after collection and carts not secured on private property and will continue to respond to excess litter and debris issues on a case-by-case basis.”
The cost to collect abandoned and dumped garbage on public property is about $250,000 each cleaning season, it said.
A community clean up with the North Central Community Association (NCCA) is planned for May 3.
— with files from 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and Abby Zieverink
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