The District of Muskoka has a long road to travel before they get rid of all the region’s bin sites but they’ve begun taking steps in the right direction.
The engineering and public works committee recently received an update on the District’s bin site transition program.
Committee heard that the District will have transitioned seven sites in 2021. That included Bin Site 71 on Rivercove Drive in Huntsville, which is planned to be transitioned to curbside collection in November 2021
However, that still leaves some 70 sites across Muskoka left to deal with.
Unstaffed dumpster sites, also referred to as bin sites, have been in operation throughout the District for more than 20 years on road allowances, vacant lands, and at commercial businesses like marinas, without provincial approval. According to the District, they provided a convenient location for waste collection for residents that do not receive curbside collection at their property (e.g. at marinas for residents with water-access properties and on road allowances for residents on private roads inaccessible for waste collection vehicles).
In 2019, the District was formally notified by the province that unstaffed, unlicensed bin sites would have to be transitioned to compliant waste collection servicing over a four-year period, with complete abatement by April 2023.
According to District staff, to provide adequate opportunity for public consultation and education and to minimize the potential for illegal dumping, bins are being transitioned out of service sequentially as the District consults with communities, gathers information on servicing needs, and implements alternate waste collection servicing.
This year discussion on servicing continued in multiple areas, including Kahshe Lake, Gull Lake and Silver Lake, Lake Rosseau (Minett), Lake Rosseau (Windermere), and several other areas. Five community surveys were also undertaken.
In 2021 Lakeside Waste Collection also continued as a result of the successful 2020 pilot program and was expanded to additional locations. Supervised, stationary collection vehicles were placed at landings for scheduled events every Sunday during the summer at six locations across the region.
During the meeting staff also said plans are underway for a winter Lakeside Waste Collection pilot. Winter servicing in remote areas with significant drive times to existing waste facilities is proving challenging. Information from the winter pilot will be used to assess the viability of servicing communities where winter curbside collection cannot be facilitated.
Fifteen sites are proposed to transition to curbside or special landing collection throughout 2022.
In Huntsville, the Bin Site 26 on Fish Lake Road at Maws Road and Bin Site 31 on Gryffin Lodge Road are both slated to transition to curbside collection in spring of 2022. That leaves another 13 to be transitioned in Huntsville and Port Sydney.
The Lakeside Waste Collection program will also be expanded to include 11 summer pick-up locations.
See the District report here.
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David Wexler says
Waste disposal for rural and private roads is a critical service. These property owners pay high property taxes and receive little in return, by way of District/town services. Versus shutting down secured garbage bins and asking these property owners to travel up to 30 minutes on a weekly basis to dispose of waste at town waste disposal sites, the District has to come up with a BETTER plan, which may involve installing camera monitoring services, providing lockable bins with secure card access for local residents or other means for unstaffed sites, or to institute curbside pickup on private roads.
Failure to do so will, I suspect lead to even more dumping of garbage on large rural private properties, which I’ve heard neighbours complain about for years, and to one big environmental mess for beautiful Muskoka.
Allan Holt says
The article writers bias is obvious when he/she says right direction. The bins are not an environmental hazard.
They are a major convenience for seasonal residents.
These seasonal residents will remember at next May’s election. So long Doug Ford!