Garbage dumpsters in Vancouver could soon be locked up to keep binners out, as part of a city plan to clean up streets and alleys.

City council is considering a bylaw this week that would order businesses to install locks to keep out people who rifle through garbage bins for recyclables and other saleable items.

Binner pushes his shopping cart down alley in downtown Vancouver.
(Duncan Speight/CBC)

The city's engineering department, which is recommending the move, points to the results of a month-long pilot project this summer.

It saw 39 tonnes of garbage and 8,300 syringes collected from the streets of one four-block area of the Downtown Eastside.
 
Much of that waste was the result of binners throwing garbage from dumpsters while collecting recyclables says the engineering department.

It was nearly half of what was collected in the rest of the city during that same time. 

Coun. Suzanne Anton says businesses in the area, and throughout the city, want something done to deal with the "awful mess created."

Simplistic solution, says critic

But Ken Lyotier of United We Can — a bottle depot on the Downtown Eastside — says many people living on the streets depend on the dumpsters to make extra money.

He says that locking up the bins is a simplistic solution to the problem of mess, and doesn't deal with the real issue.

"When you have 2,000 homeless people on your street, we've got a big problem," he said. "And locking down the dumpsters isn't going to make that go away."

Lyotier would like to see the city commit funds to give binners uniforms and have them registered, so they can operate with a code of conduct.

He also noted that this is the third time a locked-bin bylaw has been considered by council; the last time was just two years ago.