Tips to ensure your trash is going where it should

When hiring a private trash collector to take garbage like old appliances, oil tanks and carpets from your property, you have to make sure they are dumping it legally.

If they don’t bring it to the proper location, like the municipal landfill facility or an enviro depot, you will be on the hook for it if officials find your personal information in the trash.

Rochelle Clarke, from the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) Solid Waste Department, said there are ways you can protect yourself when hiring private garbage collectors:

- Always take down the license plate and vehicle model of the person you hired, so they can be traced if your trash is found illegally disposed.

- Ask for contact information and proof of identification, like a driver’s licence.

- Record the date and time the waste materials were taken from your property.

- Ask for a receipt from the CBRM dumping facility.

- If garbage is being collected on Sunday or Monday, when the dumpsite is closed, ask what the collector will do with the trash until the facility is open.

Clarke said residents can dispose of all their trash, including oil tanks, water heaters and vinyl siding, at their facilities at no cost.

For more information on what garbage can be dumped at the municipal site and where to properly dispose of materials like paint, oil and gas, go to cbrm. ns.ca/solid-waste or call 902-5671337.