CHARLES TWEED/Ponoka News
Spring brings with it many things in Alberta, from warm weather and baseball to flip-flops and barbecues.
Another thing spring brings is junk and like every year, when the snow finally melts it seems to unearth hidden treasures left behind.
Ditches are littered with plastic bags, fast food wrappers and unsuspecting areas of town and country are used as dump sites — worth noting that the 4-H kids do a marvelous job of cleaning the ditches when they are finally dry enough to do so.
Stan Baliant, director of property services with the Town of Ponoka, wants to make sure residents don’t use green space or any other undesignated area as their own personal dumping ground.
“There are three issues here. Number one, we do provide a place for recyclable materials like the cardboard and the paper. Two, it’s a minimal charge to take it to the waste transfer station and three, it creates an eyesore and there is a cost to the town and the general taxpayer to clean it up now,” said Baliant.
He wasn’t sure of the exact fine for being caught littering under the town of Ponoka bylaws but was confident it was in the hundreds of dollars range.
Baliant also felt it was important for the public to be on the lookout for anyone who might be trying to offload some items illegally.
“If people notice any type of these activities, get a license plate and report it to either the town or (Crime Stoppers),” said Baliant adding that the town relies on the public to track these people down and bring them to justice.