The City of Montreal’s cleaning operations were brought forward by several weeks, given the rather mild weather, in order to rid the city of trash accumulating in the streets.
This was recognized by Maja Vodanovic, responsible for consultation with the boroughs on the executive committee of the City of Montreal, in an interview with TVA Nouvelles on Wednesday.
“It’s been a few weeks since the blue-collar workers went out. [Comme] they couldn’t clear the snow, so they started cleaning the parks by hand with tweezers. We have 1500 parks. There is no unemployment,” said Mr.me Vodanovic.
Cleanup operations were brought forward by several weeks to rid the city of Montreal of trash littering the ground due to the rather mild weather this winter and the absence of snow to collect in the streets, Wednesday March 6, 2024 . SCREENSHOT / TVA NEWS / QMI AGENCY
Screenshot TVA News
Remember that the metropolis experienced several days with temperatures above seasonal norms. For example, there were records, notably in Montreal on Tuesday, with a maximum of 13.8 degrees.
Interviewed by Mario Dumont, Mme Vodanovic also deplored the carelessness of certain citizens who leave their waste in parks after eating, for example.
“How can we leave it there? Do they expect the City to pick it up?” she emphasized, implying that there is not “an army of blue-collar workers picking up.”
A lack of education?
“It involves education at home, education in schools, raising awareness, because the more trash we put around us, the more time it will take us to collect,” said she continued.
According to her, the time spent collecting waste left by citizens is time that could be used to beautify the city.
“If we collect things that are blown away by the wind, or when the recycling goes by and they escape […] we won’t have time afterwards to do the weeds, the flowers […]if we pick up after everyone who leaves their coffee behind, well we can’t do anything else,” she insisted.
Public trash cans are overflowing
Maja Vodanovic also raised the issue of overflowing public trash cans, which are sometimes filled with the personal trash cans of certain citizens who do not respect collection times.
“They have the right to put their waste in the evening before collection from 7 a.m., so there are no real excuses,” she claimed. “If everyone made the effort to take out the trash at the right time, to not throw things away when the trash is full […]the city would be much cleaner and we would continue to clean.”
In a column published Monday, journalist Louis-Philippe Messier of Montreal Journal reported the unsanitary conditions in the city’s streets. However, he maintained that spring cleaning had started in some parks.
Please note that street brooms do not circulate in winter, and not before 1er April, when parking bans begin.