Litter is a big problem in Windsor, Ontario, but this innovative program could change that.
Strengthen the Core hopes to revitalize the neighborhood. This seven-part plan will focus on safety, cleanliness, economy, and tourism and seeks to make Windsor a nicer place.
To make Windsor cleaner, the city needs to address and solve its litter issue. To do so, "95-gallon garbage bins with locked lids have been distributed to as many as 25 downtown businesses, kicking off a one-year pilot program aimed at better managing waste and keeping the long-neglected neighbourhood clean," per Windsor Star.
The 125 bins have a special locking mechanism. While they can be opened with a key, the bins will also open if "flipped upside down — a simple feat for a garbage truck, but a difficult one for an individual looking to rifle through rubbish," Windsor Star explained.
Since the bins have to be fully closed to properly lock, businesses are discouraged from overfilling their bins, which will prevent loose litter from flying down the street.
It's not just Windsor — the world has a litter problem. According to Sydney's Ridly Rubbish Removal, "Each year, people around the world litter more than 7.5 million tons of waste."
There are billions of pieces of litter along roadways, in our oceans and rivers, and in parks and forests. This trash pollutes and contaminates our soil and drinking water, harms plants and animals, and can even poison our bodies.
If everyone picked up just one piece of trash a day, we could significantly reduce the amount of litter.
Windsor's new program hopes to stop binned trash from ever becoming litter.
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Renaldo Agostino, who represents the Windsor area, told Windsor Star that if the bins are successful, "You'll be able to walk downtown and not see garbage flying all over the streets anymore. In the long run, it could save money, because I'm not having to pay people to go out there constantly cleaning the streets."
They added: "In the long run, it could save money, because if I'm not having to pay people to go out there constantly cleaning the streets, because the system is working, because garbage doesn't fly out and it's collected, it's a better solution."
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