Dog waste shouldn’t go into the toilet – and neither of those things should end up in garbage cans at Waterloo parks.
While that may seem like common sense, city officials say they’re just two of the unexpected and unlawful things they’ve discovered in the bins in recent months.
“We do have a few garbage bins … that are experiencing some use by folks that don’t want to use their home garbage,” said Eckhard Pastrik, the city’s director of environment and parks.
Pastrik doesn’t believe the problem is widespread. He says only about 12 bins have been found to have significant issues with dumping – about five per cent of the total number in city parks.
Items found in the bins have ranged from construction material to a toilet to a significant number of household garbage bags.
Dog waste is also a common offender.
“We’re trying to encourage people to take their dog waste home, and use their green bin to recycle the material,” Pastrik said.
Albert Milne lives near Lakeshore Optimist Park in Waterloo’s north end.
He describes it as a “nice park,” but says his wife has called the city in the past due to concerns about overflowing garbage cans.
“We thought it was starting to smell pretty bad.”
Kim Winkler, who was walking her dog in the same park Tuesday, has seen similar issues.
“It can be quite messy and smelly,” she said.
“They overflow with garbage, and right onto the grass.”
On some garbage cans, signs have been installed warning that the bins may be removed if improper disposal isn’t brought under control.
Pastrik says that would only be the “very last resort,” and it’s more likely cans would be relocated.
“We have a whole bunch of options that we would pursue before even contemplating taking the can away,” he said.
In addition, the city is looking at purchasing new garbage cans with smaller openings – too small, for example, for a toilet to be dropped in.
