HE urged to enforce landfill rules

October 12, 2017

By Sue Tiffin

The following are brief reports of items discussed at the Oct. 4 meeting of Highlands East council.

A report about landfill staff duties from the environment advisory committee through Joanne Vanier, community economic development and committee co-ordinator said, “many recyclable items are still thrown in with household garbage and there is no incentive for residents to recycle.”

“We want the landfill attendants to check the bags and challenge the residents to sort it if necessary, at the landfill site,“ Vanier told council. “If you see a water bottle, maybe it’s a matter of just pointing it out to be more careful, but if you’re looking through a clear bag and see that a substantial amount could be recycled, the residents should be challenged to sort it on site.”

“The bags aren’t being checked at all of the landfill sites, I’m sure they are being checked at some of them, so isn’t an across the board thing,” said Deputy-reeve Suzanne Partridge, who chairs the environment advisory committee. “We really felt strongly that if we were using the clear bags, which we implemented several years ago, that we should at least be doing a visual scan at landfills.”

Ice opens at Keith Tallman arena

Ice is planned to be in and the Keith Tallman Memorial Arena open on Tuesday, Oct. 10, until March. The rink is available for birthday party rentals at the rate of $60 per hour.

Station 6 open house

To mark Fire Prevention Week, which runs from Oct. 8 to 14, an open house will be held on Oct. 14 at Station 6 at Hwy. 28 and McGillivray Road. Activities for children, equipment displays and demonstrations and public education will be on offer to visitors.

Information Centre

From Aug. 30 to Sept. 26, the Highlands East information centre saw 212 visitors and 10 phone inquiries. Ninety-three visitors were looking for more information about mineral collecting, while 52 were interested in geocaching and 12 were interested in trails. Sixteen people were taking a washroom break and 90 people were looking for general information. Tourists visited from throughout Ontario, other provinces, the U.S. and abroad. Visitor numbers are up from 2016.