Trash talk

Clamping down on dumpers and litterers

For many recalcitrant Cape Bretoners, “not in my back yard” means dumping their trash anywhere else.

As a result Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) council is doing the right thing by once again focusing on widespread dumping and littering within our communities.

Illegal dumping is more than a just waste-management issue in municipalities. It’s a political issue in all of Nova Scotia. Tons of illegal garbage are predictably dumped each year. Discarded garbage is often toxic – a threat to underground water, wildlife, hikers and municipal workers who are sent to retrieve it.

Those who dump and litter are costing Nova Scotia taxpayers thousands, and perhaps millions, of dollars annually. Here in the CBRM alone taxpayers are on the hook for thousands annually, picking up after dumpers.

Destination Cape Breton CEO Mary Tulle’s recent report to council on the success of Island tourism in 2017 should be added incentive to severely punish those who callously dump their trash hidden in plane view for all to see, including tourists. They see it and comment on it.

Council seems ready to design a bylaw with stiff penalties and stricter enforcement measures against dumpers. Now’s the right time to do it. But the new law will have to have teeth, not just vague threats. And it may need the added strength of new provincial criminal law legislation to make illegal dumping totally unacceptable within the borders of Nova Scotia.

The most successful antidumping strategies in other constituencies involve heavy fines, even seizing the very vehicles that deliver the trash. Criminalizing illegal dumping makes it more than just annoying behaviour.

Any new by-law should also include a provision for community service that requires apprehended dumpers picking up the illegal garbage they throw and delivering it to Waste Management at their expense. CBRM by-laws do not impose fines. That needs to change.

A local constable is now assigned to investigate illegal trash sites. Some charges have already been laid under provincial acts, such as Environment, Motor Vehicles and Crown Lands. Paying for these special police services comes with the assistance of the Divert Nova Scotia Enforcement Program.

And council might want to consider offering a reward, perhaps $250, for information leading to the arrest and conviction of illegal dumpers. It encourages many people to keep a watchful eye on places suspected as popular dump sites. Taking licence numbers and vehicle descriptions would be an incentive with an award.

It is encouraging to see Councillors Darren Bruckschawaiger and Jim MacLeod taking the hard-line lead on this issue. It’s safe to say that all members of council are on-side. Bruckschawaiger is on the right track by advocating heavy fines of up to $10,000 for violators. The deterrence factor will catch on pretty quickly once convictions with these kinds of penalties are made public.

So enough is enough! Other than installing harsh penalties there is nothing more the CBRM can do to deter this rampant problem. CBRM’s solid waste employees have designed an informative public education strategy around the disposal of garbage. No more tolerance should be shown towards these recidivist criminals.

In the past few years an estimated 700 illegal sites have been identified as attractive to dumpers within the CBRM. There is signage that warns culprits. But some believe that the signage itself invites defiant illegal dumping. We need to consider different wording and positioning more cameras in areas favoured by culprits until we get things under control.