It looks as if St. Patrick’s Day in Ottawa will feature a different kind of green this year.
The Bank Street BIA is planning to launch a recycling event in conjunction with the city’s St. Patrick’s Day parade on March 15.
While the details are still being finalized, the head of the downtown Business Improvement Area hopes to encourage more recycling around the community.
There are plans to line the parade route down Bank Street with collection bins and to have a larger collection depot at the Staples store in Centretown for local residents to drop off electronics and other “e-waste”.
"We don’t have anything solid yet, it’s just a concept we’re working on, but the idea is to take St. Patrick’s Day and make it green in another way,” says Christine Leadman, executive director of the Bank Street BIA. “We want to turn the green element of the St. Patrick’s Day festival into a recycling event.”
She is also hoping to set up bigger stations with trucks for the recycling of larger items such as furniture and clothes for non-profit organization Habitat for Humanity.
Leadman has met with parade organizers and is in the process of working out the specifics.
“The next step is really just securing the participants, in terms of setting up the depots, and working with environmental groups and the city to look at more options,” she says.
Somerset Coun. Diane Holmes, who represents the area in which the parade takes place, applauded plans for the recycling event.
“The more green aspects to the St. Patrick’s Day parade the better,” says Holmes. “It’s a very positive initiative and I think the residents of Centretown will be delighted about any recycling opportunity that is available to them.”
Robert Dekker, vice-president of the Centretown Citizens Community Association, echoes the sentiment.
“The Centretown Citizens Community Association and residents in the area fully support the efforts made by the Bank Street BIA to reduce the amount of waste going to landfills,” Dekker says.
“We’ve already done the same sort of electronic waste collection they’re planning a few times, so we will continue to support it as a good way to ensure all waste doesn’t end up in landfills,” he adds.
While the St. Patrick’s Day holiday is notorious for bouts of drinking, especially among students, Leadman insists this was not a factor in creating the eco-event.
“For us it was more about promoting green, and providing an opportunity for downtown residents to dispose of their ‘e-waste’ or other hazardous waste,” she says. “It had nothing to do with drinking, although I’m sure there will be some of that going on.”
The parade, which is in its 32nd year, begins at the intersection of Elgin Street and Laurier Ave. West, and ends at an area west of the Library and Archives Canada building on Wellington Street.