Plateau Mont Royal borough will drop the use of open recycling bins and replace them with transparent, closable plastic bags this June 7, as part of a $3.6-million spiff-up campaign.

The manpower required earlier to run after wind-blown plastic litter will no more be needed, revealed the borough Mayor Luc Fernandez.

About 50,000 households will be given a year's worth of bags by the borough. After that the residents would have to get their own from the borough at a wholesale price of about $4. Retailers will be offering it for $6.99 plus tax, but the poor can avail them for free.

The number of cleanliness inspectors will be doubled for the summer to eight. The Plateau charged 1,354 tickets for cleanliness offence last year and a fine of $100 was levied for household-litter infractions. About $50,000 is being spent by the borough every year to substitute the recycling bins made of plastic.

The bags made of non-biodegradable polyethylene, will hold about 80 to100 liters of recyclable material. About 68% of their household litter has been recycled by the plateau residents presently.

The volume of Plateau recycling will be boosted by 15% or more by these bags.