OSOYOOS TIMES-April 14, 2010
Isla Petreny-Mackenzie of Osoyoos is absolutely right when she says that laying blame is not the answer when it comes to dealing with people dumping their trash around the community.
But it’s hard not to feel anger and frustration when one finds garbage strewn around town.
Trash left on or along Osoyoos’s growing trail network, or the mess left at the makeshift campground at Strawberry Creek or the carpet of cigarette butts and other litter scattered along the shore of Osoyoos Lake, shows a level of ignorance and disrespect for this community.
It’s also embarrassing to have visitors to this town come across such messes that are caused by so few but reflect the majority of us who do take pride in our community and do our part to keep it clean.
The efforts of Petreny-Mackenzie and the dozens of other people who give up their time to help clean up the community are commendable and the call for more to get involved in pickup efforts is a good one.
Hopefully we’ll all come together during Pitch In Week from April 19 to 25 to do our share.
At the same time, there has to be a focus on discouraging people from littering and dumping their garbage in the first place.
Simply removing the trash left by an ignorant minority, just to make room for more garbage to be dumped in the months ahead doesn’t solve the problem.
Admittedly, however, it’s a tough problem to solve.
While providing better accommodation opportunities to people migrating through the community during the year, such as the organized camp concept put forth by leaders such as Mayor Stu Wells, might have some affect on reducing the amount of garbage left along trails at Strawberry Creek, other measures might be looked at as well.
Perhaps the Town of Osoyoos, Regional District Okanagan-Similkameen and even the province could collaborate on providing some kind of educational system for the people who camp outside organized camping areas about the problems their litter and left-behind camping gear causes for the community.
Perhaps policies could be adopted making it easier for local police and bylaw officials to patrol areas where dumping is happening and punish those who are leaving behind their garbage.
And maybe all of us can play a role in letting people we see littering or dumping their trash know it’s not acceptable and Osoyoos is a community that takes pride in its natural environment.
