Hundreds of trashcans added as Vancouver battles growing litter problem

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — The city is putting more money into cleaning up Vancouver streets, but the man in charge of waste management says it shouldn’t have to.

Albert Shamess says the amount of trash, like discarded coffee cups, cigarette butts, and needles, dumped on the street and in alleyways, has been increasing.

“There should be more of a community sprite around everybody working to keep the city clean.”

The city is rolling out another 300 trash cans in key areas, and 250 more around parks this year to help with the problem.

“People need to step up and take a little bit more pride and responsibility around the cleanliness of the city.”

Shamess says about $750,000 has been set aside to keep things tidier in 2016 compared to about $500,000 in other years.

City Council approved a 50 per cent increase to dedicate $695,000 for the annual Street Cleaning Grant Program.

“It goes to supporting expanded micro-cleaning activities provided by social enterprises and it’s expanding some of the work we do in the Downtown Eastside as well as some other areas of the city and also provides us an opportunity to link in with some new social agencies, particularly the Binners Project and Missions Possible.”

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today