By Jenn Watt
The following are brief reports of items discussed at the Oct. 10 meeting of Dysart et al’s environment and climate change committee.
Conversation is ongoing about setting aside one day in May for volunteers across Haliburton County to pick up litter along roadsides. The concept was first discussed at a joint meeting of environment committees with notes coming to Dysart’s committee table.
“The idea is to pull more people into it and make it a big event” said Mallory Bishop environmental co-ordinator for Dysart et al.
Councillors were positive about the idea noting there might be some logistical issues in arranging for enough fluorescent vests for people to wear.
An inventory of trash collected would also be compiled which would be useful in future educational campaigns.
Councillor John Smith who chairs the environment committee said the cleanup he is involved with around Kennisis Lake garners a significant amount of trash including more than 1000 beer cans collected last May.
“We’ve had people say this stretch of road wasn’t cleaned up last time because there was so much trash here. Well I’m sorry it was” he said.
Additional details will be decided at the joint meeting of environment committees in January.
Logistics too complicated for giveaway day
The committee discussed a curbside giveaway day but decided that in a municipality as geographically spread out as Dysart it would be too difficult to orchestrate. For those living down rural roads chances would be low that enough people would drive by and be interested in the items left at the end of their driveway to make it worthwhile.
The committee also discussed having centralized drop-off points but determined that likely the municipality would end up with unwanted items at the end of the day.
Mayor Andrea Roberts pointed out that for those who have high quality used items they can sell them at Trash N Treasures in June or bring them to the Lily Ann or Thrift Warehouse.
Waiting for Waste Wizard magic
The new Waste Wizard app will soon be launched in Highlands East and Algonquin Highlands which committee members in Dysart said they were waiting for to see usage statistics before they make any recommendations.
The app assists users in sorting their recycling and garbage and points them to the appropriate venues for particular items. There was concern that with spotty internet access it might not get enough use. Bishop also pointed out that Dysart has its own projects it’s working on.
“We’ve got ULinks working on a waste education campaign strategy coming in the winter. So we’ll have to consider what things we want to focus on” she said.
If Dysart and Minden Hills were both to join in the cost would be $750 per year per municipality.
