Throwing banana peels into the wrong can has the potential to be costly come the new year when Victoria moves to divert kitchen scraps from the garbage.
Victoria councillors have endorsed a new schedule of fees and fines for people not willing to sort things out. The fines vary according to offence, but something like failure to bag kitchen scraps is punishable by a $125 fine and improper disposal of kitchen scraps could cost $350.
The fines will only be levied in extreme cases where someone repeatedly ignores regulations surrounding the new garbage collection, said Mayor Dean Fortin.
“It’s really just aimed at major offenders, looking for an opportunity for them to change their ways, recognizing the overall public policy of what we’re trying to encourage,” Fortin said
Starting in February, Victoria residents will have backyard pickup of both kitchen scraps and garbage every two weeks.
The new bins will be delivered to Victoria homes next month. Residents will sort compostable material from regular garbage and pay less if they opt for a smaller garbage bin. All customers will receive a standard 120-litre green bin for kitchen scraps, a smaller bin for daily collection of scraps for transfer to the larger bin and their choice of garbage bin.
It’s estimated that a third of material that has been going to the landfill will be diverted into the composting program.
Feeding the gulls downtown is also now punishable by a $300 fine.
Looking to keep a lid on nuisance wildlife, council agreed in March to amend the city’s animal control bylaw by adding a prohibition against intentionally feeding or leaving food out for deer, squirrels, raccoons or feral rabbits anywhere within city limits and feeding gulls in the downtown. Fines go as high as $350.
Because regulation of wildlife is a concurrent responsibility with the province, it had to wait for provincial agreement before passing final reading. That has now come through.
Like most bylaws, Fortin said, enforcement is complaint based.
“We’re not going to be out there hunting people down who happen to drop a piece of bread for a seagull,” Fortin said.
“If you plant roses and the deer come and eat them, we’re not going to come along and say: ‘;You’re feeding the deer.’ On the other hand, if you’re putting out a salt lick, we might come out and say: ‘;Here’s why we don’t want you to do this.’ There is an issue around controlling the deer.”
