District 14's Lisa Blackburn says too often flyers end up becoming litter on the side of our roads

A Halifax councillor says there are no rules to regulate flyer delivery in Halifax Regional Municipality and too often they are becoming litter on the side of our roads.

In August, Middle/Upper Sackville-Beaver Bank-Lucasville councillor Lisa Blackburn proposed that staff look at the possibility of residents having to opt-in to receive flyers.

Now, a proposed bylaw will be brought to the Environment and Sustainability Standing Committee Thursday, where the group will decide if it will be taken to council.

However staff have recommended that a mandatory ‘opt-in’ only delivery option not be added, instead they want residents to be able to post a ‘No Flyers’ sign on their properties, which companies would be required to follow.

Blackburn is disappointed mandatory opt-in isn't included but thinks what has been proposed will cut down on the number of pink plastic bags filled with soggy papers filling ditches in HRM.

"The onus is on the resident to call the distributor and say, 'Please do not do this,' and I've heard time and time again from residents that it took three, four, five calls to make that happen, and that's not right." said Blackburn.

The bylaw also recommends a pilot project of flyer boxes for rural areas, which Blackburn thinks should be provided by flyer distributors.

"It would pretty much make it illegal to drop flyers in people's driveways, instead they would be delivered in a box designed for newspaper distribution," she explained.

Blackburn said, if you live in an urban area, it's easy to slap a 'no flyers' sticker on a door to opt out, but it doesn't work that way elsewhere in the municipality.

"When they're delivered in suburban and rural areas, they're tossed from the window of a moving vehicle most of the time, so a sticker on the door is not going to be visible and it's not going to prevent them from getting them."

Previous councils have discussed flyers, but Blackburn said that involved an end to delivery altogether.

"I wasn't looking for a ban on flyers, because those who like their flyers like them a lot," said Blackburn.