Soon you will be facing a fine for littering or illegal dumping in Centre Wellington, as council approved a new bylaw at their committee of the whole meeting.

Mayor Kelly Linton says the problem was, there was no proper bylaw in place that allowed the township to address littering.

“We would put signs up to let people know, but it wasn’t enforceable legally, so […] [we had to] make sure that we had a bylaw that prohibited people from littering across Centre Wellington, and then established fines, so when they do, we can hold them accountable,” Linton said.

Linton said fines have not been approved yet, but they are looking at starting them at $150 for littering.

Linton said fines for illegal dumping could look a lot different.

“If somebody throws an apple core for instance, or somebody drops a trailer full of trash, there will definitely be a different fine. There will be some ability for our bylaw enforcement officer to have some discretion there,” Linton said.

Linton said littering is a common problem everywhere.

“It just boggles my mind that people can roll down their window and throw stuff out their car window or they can just throw something on the sidewalk, I can’t figure out that way of thinking," Linton said. "And then you have a lot of other people in our community who actually go around and pick up after people."

Linton said it’s unfortunate that council has to do something like this because most people in the community take a lot of pride in the town, and would never do something like this.

Centre Wellington Mayor Kelly Linton: