Illegal dumping ‘pretty disheartening’

Topic brought to Argyle council after incident in Pubnico area

It’s an issue that never seems to go away – the problem of illegal dumping – and it came up for discussion once more at Argyle muni- cipal council, which wondered how best to address the matter.

Calvin d’Entremont, one of the municipality’s council members for the West Pubnico area, raised the topic after an incident of illegal dumping in his community.

“It’s still going on,” he said. “It’s pretty disheartening.”

Discussing the matter at a Feb. 1 meeting of council, d’Entremont asked that information be brought back to council about penalties that can be levied for illegal dumping.

The issue is expected to be revisited at a future council session.

At last week’s meeting of Argyle council’s committee-of-the-whole, d’Entremont said he wasn’t sure if the best approach to the problem is education or enforcement.

Danny Muise, the Argyle deputy warden – who serves as chairman for the municipality’s commit- tee-of-the-whole meetings – acknowledged that illegal dumping remains a problem and that those responsible for it know they’re breaking the rules.

Alain Muise, the Argyle CAO, noted that proof is needed in order to penalize someone for dumping illegally. He said the municipality could discuss the issue with Waste Check if council wanted to go that route.

In the end, it was agreed that information about fines would be presented to council at an upcoming meeting.