BURLINGTON, ON March 11, 2013 If you were wondering why it took so long to get a bigger blue bin last Saturday – we can tell you . There were 3500 people at Corpus Christi and 1500 at the Mohawk Raceway in line waiting to pick up their bins. Retailers should be so lucky.
Media people at the Region advised that an estimated 1,500 vehicles visited the Mohawk Racetrack to pick up an Information Kit, Blue Box and GreenCart. An estimated 2,500 Blue Boxes were given out at the Mohawk Event and 1,000 GreenCarts.
Approximately 3,400 vehicles attended the event at Corpus Christi, where an estimated 3,500 Blue Boxes and 1,400 GreenCarts were picked-up in addition to Information Kits.
As a result of the high turn-out that occurred at each location on Saturday, the Region is reviewing options for the remaining planned events to reduce wait times. That’s a good idea.
If sitting in your pick up with all eight cylinders idling isn’t your idea of how to spend a Saturday morning the Region will distribute Blue Boxes and GreenCarts at the Halton Waste Management Site, Monday through Saturday, the Halton Regional Centre, Monday through Friday and at the Robert C. Austin Operations Centre located on Trafalgar Road in Georgetown, also Monday through Friday. Blue Boxes and GreenCarts are available at these locations throughout the year.
Our Burlington asked the regional communications experts why there was no distribution points south of the QEW and were told that “, there is simply no location large enough that can accommodate a large volume of vehicles. We have encountered this problem when planning our Special Waste Drop-Off Day events for hazardous waste and E-Waste. Most schools and public facilities do not have adequate space to hold the events and the traffic would impact residential neighbourhoods. Newer schools and facilities that are north of the QEW have more space.”
All true, but the parking lot outside the yet to be opened Target store at the Burlington Mall is basically empty and one can bet that Target would have bent over backwards to help out on a project of this size. An opportunity lost.
What this experience tells us is that the people of Burlington take waste management serious and will go that extra mile – literally- to get a bigger blue box.