The City of Thunder Bay says now that snow has accumulated in the city, collection crews are finding more instances in which residents have placed garbage cans and recycling bags in unsafe locations on top of snowbanks.
Under a city by-law, for safety reasons, "collection staff are not permitted to retrieve collectible waste from the top of snowbanks," said Jason Sherband, manager of solid waste and recycling services for the city.
"We want to be able to pick up waste, obviously. That's why we're reminding folks to put it at ground-level in an accessible location."
The ideal spot is at the end of a driveway, a foot or two from the road, but Sherband said homeowners with driveways where space is tight should clear a spot beside the driveway for their garbage or recycled materials.
Homeowners in neighbourhoods without driveways are expected to clear an area in the snowbank adjacent to the street "so that we're not climbing over the top of the snowbank to get to the residents' garbage," he added.
