Garbage cans, or the lack thereof, on west side of the Village of Radium sparked discussion among councillors at Wednesday, June 8th council meeting.
“All of the garbage cans in Radium are located pretty much on the east side of town near the highway and I guess the park. I think there’s three on the west side of town,” said McCauley
One of the big issues is not having them available for people taking out their dogs for a walk. Without a sufficient amount of garbage cans available, people get lazy and leaving their doggy bags behind.
“It’s a common area to walk dogs near the golf course. There isn’t a single public garbage can there,”said McCauley
His comments sparked the discussion of feasibility of adding more garbage cans to the area as well as figuring out who would be doing the upkeep of these news cans.
“Garbage cans that are bear-proof aren’t cheap, so it would be something that would have to get priced out and see if we have the budget for it. I’m not expecting anything this year,” said McCauley.
When it came to discussing the possibility of adding garbage cans and doggie bags in popular walking and hiking areas, Coun. Karen Larsen had some reservations. She said installing them and maintaining them would be an expense to the taxpayer, adding that it’s a contradiction if your providing doggie bags without a garbage to get rid of them.
“I mean honestly it’s just dog poop an it’s on a trail. I’d rather see dog poop thats biodegradable and will break down in a couple of days…(people) make the effort to pick it up but they’ll throw it off into the bushes… so why not just leave it,” said Larsen.
As residents of Radium will not see any additional garbages on the west side of town in the near future, they are reminded to continue to clean up after their dogs and use public garbages in the existing locations.