Port Hawkesbury Rethinking Compost Pick-Up Strategy Following Complaints

PORT HAWKESBURY - It's not every day that a town's mayor confirms that she "nearly threw up" at a presentation made to town council, or that the word "maggots" surfaces in a discussion at the municipal government level. 

But that's what Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton and her town councillors found themselves facing this summer, as a result of a rash of complaints from town residents about the frequency of pick-ups for the town's year-old green-cart composting program.

Typically, the town's Public Works department picks up green-cart compost and bagged non-compostable, non-recyclable waste every two weeks, with recyclables in blue bags taken away during the intervening weeks. 

However, the combination of this summer's extreme heat and humidity - particularly in June and August - and delays in pick-ups caused by long weekends led many residents to lodge complaints with the town about insects and other pests that were gathering around their green-carts. A handful of residents also posted pictures on their social media pages of maggot-covered green-carts, with some swearing they would no longer participate in Port Hawkesbury's composting program as a result. 

In the wake of a presentation to town counil that had Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton feeling extreme nausea, the town will now examine the possibility of having weekly compost and garbage pick-ups during the summer, and possibly at other points of the year. 

First-term councillor Jason Aucoin, who started receiving complaints about the green-cart issue in late June and early July, is hopeful that the town can work out a solution with disgruntled residents. 

'I think some educational pieces would be good as well," Aucoin suggested. 

"I think it just goes to show the residents of Port Hawkesbury that town council is willing to make changes when necessary, and that we are here to listen to the citizens as well."