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Charlottetown civic employees, members of Local 501, will take to the streets this winter to promote public waste management for the Island.

“Under the government’s plan to privatize, those who will be doing the job will have wages dependant on the profit margins and bottom line of a private company,” said union member Gordon MacDougall, who is involved in the public campaign. “This is not to mention the reduction in the level of service we know will occur.”

The East Prince region of PEI, which includes Charlottetown, has a first-class public waste reduction system, called Waste Watch. CUPE members do bi-weekly non-domestic garbage pick-up for recycling and composting. But the province plans to extend the system across the Island and turn it over to a private company.

In the fall, Local 501 and the mayor of Charlottetown co-presented a brief to the province, arguing that publicly-run waste management is higher quality, more cost efficient and accountable. Now, the waste management employees will go door-to-door with leaflets that say: Public Works Best for Waste Watch.