Bulk garbage pickup curbed, group worries St. John's will be trashed

A group that works to keep St. John's clean and beautiful says it will have its work cut out for them, now that council has decided to curb bulk garbage pickup.

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Karen Hickman, executive directorof Clean St. John's, said about 3,200 residents relied on the city's bulk garbage service last year.

"The thing we do not want to see is it littering our city," she told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

"We've worked so hard to get where we are with the litter crew and the bulk pickup.To sort of go backwards, we don't want to see that."

Once the service is cut, people will have to arrange their own bulk garbage collection whether that's hiring someone to remove garbage, ortaking itto the dump themselves," Hickman said.

"Really, the only option to people who don't have a vehicle is to call someone and pay to have it disposed of. That's their only option," she said.

Hickmanwill meet with the board of directorsin January to discuss what Clean St. John's can do.The group, she said, has even considered reworking its own budget tohelp with collection.

"We don't have the kind of money that the city [does]."

"I think [the cost of the program]was $400,000 so obviously, as a non-profit group, we're going to do everything we can to work with the city and with community groups, but we're certainly going to need some help."

The group'scleanup campaign runs every spring, but typically doesn't focus onbulkier items like "sofas and hot water boilers."

Hickman said she's disappointed council decided to scrapthe service altogether, as opposed to cutting back on the length of the pickup time.

"If they just had even one pickup for your ward, that could have helped a bit."

One resident, Hickman said, called her on Wednesday to ask what will happen if someone doesn't have the means to dispose of bulk garbage.

She said she didn't have an answer, and is concerned items could be dumped on sidewalks and near highways.

According to Hickman, St. John'sCoun.Sandy Hickman her husband was equally disappointedby the news.

SandyHickman voted against council's budget during Monday's meeting.