To the Editor:

I have been a resident of this fair city for the past four years and each year it’s the same kick from the city to have local residents clean up the town for a dollar a bag of garbage and also recyclables. The approach that needs to be used here is proactive and not reactive.

I know that not all people are going to be courteous and use common sense with the disposal of waste from vehicles or for that matter their homes, but with the right education and campaign, the majority of people will listen and take some sort of responsibility in keeping their city clean. What we need are active citizen groups with co-ordination from the city in each area to take responsibility. We, as educated members of the city, spread awareness about the best ways to dispose of garbage.

I do give praise to the city for introducing the new bins for residential areas, which in turn has made more people recycle due to limited space in the garbage bin.

Driving around town it almost makes me vomit with the trash that has been deposited starting from the last clean up in 2009. Several businesses in town have not even looked at the possibility of doing their part in cleaning up their site. Here are a few examples of what I have noticed and I am sure you have too. I went to the City Centre Mall and Wal-Mart parking lot, stepped out of my vehicle and to not to my surprise I stepped on a soiled diaper, and at the same instance I was hit in the face with a Wal-Mart shopping bag; that’s a great way to start my shopping experience.

I was at Fas-Gas the other day, parked waiting for my wife to come out, when a truck pulled up next to me. The passenger got out and kicked take out boxes on to the ground along with plastic bags, immediately I got out and told the guy to pick up his crap, that this parking lot is not a dumping ground. This guy looked at me and said why should I, look at all the other garbage here. I replied “so you’re a part of the problem and not the solution”, he gave me the finger and walked into the store, so I took the garbage and placed it in the back of his truck. Thompson Shell in the Southwood area is disgusting; when I circled the building to exit the premises I thought that I was entering the dump that is located outside the city. You name the type of household garbage and it would most likely be found there and stretching into the trees to the hospital. All in all, the town in general in every area has garbage scattered throughout.

Why don’t people care?? In my opinion there are several reasons that contribute to this fiasco. Plain and simple some people just don’t care and are unwilling to change; ever hear the saying you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?

The city has a general clean up each year which also gives people a reason to say, whatever, it will be cleaned up in the spring. I noticed also that containers at businesses around town are usually filled to the maximum and overflowing, and did notice that they are not changed on a regular basis. This is not to say that all businesses are reckless with their refuse disposal. I do not know for the life of me why people here throw garbage all around.

All of us know that Thompson is very transient, and we have a lot of outside visitors that come in on the weekends, and this significantly contributes to the epidemic of flying and stationary trash. I’m wondering what a lot of these peoples homes look like inside and out; are they trash ridden like Thompson? I have witnessed first hand of what visitors and transients are capable of.

I came from a community in Newfoundland where growing up, the town won numerous awards for cleanliness ... hmmm... could that be a stellar idea for the City of Thompson with the right key players in action. Again this is a proactive idea! It might just work!!

I would just like to ask the many people that are guilty of throwing trash on the ground, to take a moment to walk, or drive to a trash receptacle. It’s not that hard people. Let’s make this community bright and beautiful not just once a year, but for 12 months of the year. Garbage doesn’t disappear just because there is snow and ice on the ground. Remember we are human beings, not animals in the truest sense, which is why we were given the gift of an opposable thumb so that we could and can pick stuff up.

Justin Pike
Thompson