The City of North Battleford is talking about what is the best strategy to deal with needle pickups. (File photo/battlefords NOW)

By Angela Brown

Dealing with discarded needles

City to examine best way to deal with rising needle pick-ups

Oct 30, 2019 | 6:02 PM

North Battleford lawmakers are looking for an effective strategy to deal with picking up discarded needles in the city.

According to the September report, the North Battleford Fire Department responded to 19 calls for needle pick-ups. To date, firefighters have responded to 251 calls, which is close to a 40 per cent rise from last year when then they responded to just 152.

City manager Randy Patrick said administration will discuss the issue at its meeting this week to look for potential solutions to the prickly problem, like who should do it and how it should be done.

Coun. Kelli Hawtin said she has done research on what other larger municipalities, like Saskatoon, are doing in an effort to tackle the problem.

She said the Saskatoon Fire Department has a partnership with the public health department where they provide a kit with tongs, gloves and a sharps container in the spring when communities launch garbage pick up programs so they can safely pick up needles. But for those not comfortable with picking up needles, they can call 911 to have the fire department collect it instead.

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“I thought that’s an interesting partnership, and probably a good time to start looking at something like that if we were to want to explore it for the spring in our own city,” she said.

Following council, Mayor Ryan Bater said information is being collected from other communities about how they are mobilizing and engaging the public.

“Hopefully a bit of strategy can be developed and brought back to council at a future time,” Bater said.

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angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow