Lighthearted praise for the appearance of a new green bin in Penetanguishene council chambers also brought another stern warning from Mayor Doug Rawson for garbage and recycling awareness.
During the recent regular meeting of council, Rawson took a moment to gleefully acknowledge a newly situated green bin beside the garbage and recycling receptacles.
Separate from garbage or paper and cardboard recycling, a green bin is intended to collect organics such as food waste, tea bags, cut flowers and more. A list of acceptable items for the organics bin is available on the Simcoe County website.
“This is important, because we’re running out,” Rawson told attendees of the council meeting. “We’re down now to weeks of landfill space in the county. Weeks.”
County landfills are expected to reach capacity and close by 2027, which has caused many municipalities to encourage awareness on the backs of residents. In June, a 20-year contract to export burnable waste was approved by the county as a remedy.
“We need to do a better job of diversion,” said Rawson. “We need to use our blue bins, we need to use our green bins – I can’t stress enough: please use them.
“At county council earlier this year, we debated whether or not we were going to pick up your garbage anymore if you didn’t put out a green bin – that was defeated, but we need to find other solutions,” Rawson added.
Following the meeting, MidlandToday asked Rawson about the importance of municipal examples for the public to recognize.
“I see garbage, I see recycling all the time, and it's staff time to clean it up. I think it looks terrible and I think it's not good for our environment (or) our landfills,” said Rawson while commending staff.
“We need to lead,” he added. “The more we take leadership roles like this, people are going to see us and then hopefully they take a step like that and want to do that out of their own home.
When asked what the most problematic areas within Penetanguishene were for the municipality, Rawson stated: “Rotary Trail and the arena are the top two things that I see on a regular basis; I’d also say Memorial Park.”
Meetings of Penetanguishene council are held on the second Wednesday of each month, and can be watched live on Rogers TV cable 53 when available, or on the Rogers TV website.
Archives of council meetings are located on the Town of Penetanguishene YouTube channel.
