Charities in Arnprior are coming forward and saying they too are dealing with an increase in garbage being dumped at their door and that it’s costly.
Dee Dee Lepine is a volunteer with The Opportunity Shop, a charity that re-sells donated items to support medical equipment at the Arnprior hospital.
She says people are dropping off their garbage, not donations, which has included “broken toys, broken dishes, soiled diapers.”
Similar complaints came from Ottawa charities last week who say they are seeing more garbage, which has included dirty diapers and dead cats, show up in their donation bins since the city went to bi-weekly collection.
“Garbage I’m assuming is being left at our drop boxes and back door because people don’t want it in their homes until garbage day,” said Sharron Ducharme of Ottawa's St. Vincent De Paul.
Arnprior residents, as well as charities, are limited to two bags of garbage each week at the cost of $3. But with more garbage piling up, Lepine says the cost goes up too.
Arnprior experimented with bi-weekly collection in 2010 but some residents complained about the smell and weekly pick-up resumed five months later.
“I wouldn’t say there were a lot of complaints but it was an issue that was a concern to residents and some councillors,” said Arnprior Mayor David Reid.
“They made a good argument for weekly garbage pick-up.”
As for Lepine, she said she’s thankful for all the good donations the charity receives, but does not want people to treat the site as a dumping ground for garbage.
With a report from CTV Ottawa’s Joanne Schnurr
