Garbage fees in the Regional District of Kitimat-Stikine now have an exception for people picking up roadside litter.
The change came last week thanks to Dave Jordan, a resident who regularly cleans up litter on his property edge near the old Terrace landfill and who was perturbed at having to pay for its pick up with the new garbage system. (A $2 fee is charged for extra bags of garbage.)
Residents in the regional district can now get bag tags if they clean up litter so those bags will be picked up for free, provided they prove that it’s litter.
Residents must take a photo of the littered area, bring it to the regional district and be approved for a free ‘bag tag’ by the Solid Waste Services Coordinator. Then they put that tag on the garbage bags and won’t be charged the regular garbage fee.
“I was excited,” said Jordan of the change, adding that it isn’t right for people to pay to clean up litter.
“Now we just have to take a picture of it, go to regional district, show them the picture, and they’ll give me the sticker to put on the bag,” he said.
“I can put [the sticker] on my garbage and I won’t get charged for it,” he said.