The city will consider creating a clean-up team to tackle litter in the municipality.
At its meeting Monday, council committee supported Coun. Tim Lauer’s request that staff look into “the cost and logistics of developing a city litter clean-up crew that would include both in-house and contracted solutions.”
Lauer’s motion came about as a result of a previous discussion about single-use plastics.
“I think this issue has become a little more urgent,” he said.
“It is a major problem worldwide. There is plastic pollution now in the Arctic, in the Antarctic, on the ocean floor, in the ocean itself.”
The community usually comes together for a pitch-in day, when they spread out in various areas of the city to clean up trash. Anyone who has taken part in that effort knows “there’s a lot of unclaimed littler out there and a lot of that litter is plastic,” Lauer said, adding it seems clear there is a need for a “long-term, ongoing” approach to the issue.
“I see this as an issue that has become a priority and I think that, as a municipality, we should look into the idea of investing money in a solution,” he said.
Coun. Ralph Cipolla supported Lauer’s motion but asked if the litter clean-up crew could be “a summer work project for students” and be funded by upper levels of government.
City CAO Gayle Jackson said the report to council would include different opportunities, one of which might be an option for summer students to fill the role.