The Sainte-Anne-De-Bellevue (SADB) village merhcants are infuriated at the new city policy to stop all garbage collection in the village. Last summer, the merchants saw a reduction in their services when garbage pickup went from twice to once a week. Now waste collection will be non-existant without a decrease in taxes.
Merchants were refused organic waste pickup in the past, but now the city is authorizing organic waste after they revoked regular garbage pickup altogether.
President of the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Merchants Association, Jean-Claude Provost, is concerned about the state of affairs in the village once this reduction in services is implemented.
"We will most certainly see a rise in the rodent population when the merchants begin an organic waste collection," he stated in an interview with WIN. "We are limited in space making it impossible to hide all our organic waste from sight. The smell and the rise of the rodent and insect population that comes with composting is also a concern."
There is a concerted effort by this council to appear to be on the side of the environment; sadly, according to one resident who preferred to remain anonymous, it is a smoke and mirror show.
"We are a coastal town that hosts yachts and Seadoos," he stated. "How green can we be? We encourage their presence all summer long. This new regulation appears to be more of a cash grab disguised as a green initiative. How can you leave a waterfront tourist town with no garbage collection? How will you hide the smell? If each merchant hires their respective garbage removal, that will have a larger footprint."
The West Island News reached out to the Mayor and council several days ago and has yet to hear back at the time of publication.
