After years of complaints from Saint John residents about plastic bags full of flyers littering streets, the council in the New Brunswick city is showing support for a bylaw that could let residents opt out of receiving them.
Council passed first and second readings of the bylaw on Monday night. It must still pass a third reading at a meeting on May 1.
Michael Hugenholtz, the commissioner of public works and transportation for the city, said the bylaw was developed to address “some of the nuisances arising from flyer distribution that have been brought to the city’s attention over the years.”
The bylaw would allow residents to put a “No flyers” sign up on their property making it so no distributors would be allowed to drop off flyers to the residential property.
The bylaw would also make it so distributors would not be able to leave flyers at a residence if there were old flyers on the driveway.
Hugenholtz said fines for the bylaw range from $300 to $2,100 per offence with an administrative penalty of $150.
Hugenholtz’s report also says the bylaw draft was sent to Postmedia Network Inc., the company that purchased Brunswick News Inc. in 2022, for input but none was received.
Many Saint John residents have long been frustrated by bags of flyers piled on the side of the road.
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So in 2019, Saint John councillors approved Coun. David Hickey’s motion that instructed city staff to draft a flyer delivery bylaw with “specific focus on an ‘opt in’ or ‘opt out’ model.”
At the time, attempts by the Halifax Regional Municipality to create an opt in bylaw failed after city staff advised it would be “an infringement” on the freedom of expression of flyer distributors.
But Halifax councillors eventually approved an opt out model where residents could place “No flyers” stickers on their properties to avoid receiving them.
Moncton bylaw led to dozens of fines
Moncton also introduced a similar bylaw in 2020 which resulted in dozens of fines being issued the next year.
On Monday night, Hickey said he was excited to see the drafted bylaw because it was one of his first motions as a councillor.
“I just think it’s a great step from a livability perspective. It’s an easy one,” he said.
Hickey noted that at the time of his original motion, before the modernization of the city’s waste management, he calculated that roughly $45,000 in tipping fees were spent per year disposing of flyers.
“Hopefully [the bylaw will] clean up a couple streets and clean up a couple of doorsteps,” said Hickey.
Unlike Halifax, Saint John will not be providing stickers. Instead, a “No flyers” sign has been included on the last page of the drafted bylaw. Hugenholtz said residents are able to make their own sign as long as it is viewable from where distributors are throwing papers.
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The bylaw also includes a section that addresses where flyers will be allowed to be distributed on a property. It says flyers can be placed in the residence’s mailbox, in the mail slot or in any receptacle designated for that purpose.
Deputy Mayor John MacKenzie said he likes the idea of regulating where flyers can be placed because “right now, our biggest problem is they’re thrown everywhere.”
But he also said that he’s had issues in the past contacting distributors to ask for flyers to not be delivered. MacKenzie said he wrote an email trying to get a phone number to call about opting out of flyer delivery and didn’t receive a response for six days.
“This is a great start,” he said, “but I’m certainly not against having an opt in option and doing away with them if this doesn’t work.”
This story was originally published in CBC News on April 18, 2023.
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