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Park Ex residents call for borough to do more to curb trash overflow

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It's a stinky situation in Montreal's Park Extension neighbourhood, where residents say the garbage problem has gotten out of control.

Roberto Reginato has lived in Park Ex for over 50 years. He said large piles of garbage on the curb are a common sight.

"We've got recycling here, we've got paint products that look like they were used 20 years ago, we got clothes," said Reginato, gesturing to a heap of trash while taking CTV News on a tour of the neighbourhood. "I don't even want to get close to it."

Reginato believes the borough isn't moving fast enough to clear the trash piles.

"This what I wake up to in the morning, this is what I see every day," he lamented. 

LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: Parc-Ex stinks… literally

It's gotten worse since the borough changed garbage pickup to just one a week for buildings with under eight units in 2018, he explained.

These days, garbage piles are common on-and-off public property, say residents, which has led to another issue.

"There's rats. I don't know how many there are, but there are rats," said Reginato.

Resident Connie Buccheri said the garbage attracts all kinds of pests.

"There's rodents, there's skunks, there's racoons, but especially the rats and the mice all over the place," she said. "Garbage brings in rodents. So you get rid of the garbage, you get rid of the rodents."

"I feel Park Ex is being neglected," said Buccheri. "And that is unacceptable."

They want the borough to do more to clean up the streets by better-informing residents on waste management and more frequent garbage pickup.

LISTEN ON CJAD 800 RADIO: Picking up the trash in Park Extension


But the borough says now is the time to cut down on waste altogether.

"It's not true that if there is a problem here, we're just going to [add] more collection [days] and forget that we are in a climate crisis, and that we have to divert from the landfill," said Villeray–Saint-Michel–Parc-Extension Mayor Laurence Lavigne Lalonde.

On Monday, the borough launched a neighbourhood cleanup "blitz" to get existing garbage pileup under control. 

Information teams are also being dispatched to knock on doors and educate people on proper waste management, including how to seperate garbage from recycling and compost. 

Signs reminding people to keep the area clean have gone up around the neighbourhood, and fines have been boosted to $4,000.

"I really do think that people here in Park Extension, they can understand how it works like every other borough," said Lavigne Lalonde.

"They are people that live here, participate in community activities; they are as brilliant as in other places, so we just have to make sure that information gets to people."

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