Illegal dumping ‘saddening’
Officer questions and charges perpetrators to keep CBRM clean
SYDNEY — Const. Arnold McKinnon thought he had an illegal dumper in his sights.
Spotting a lone vehicle in an otherwise unoccupied area of east-end Sydney, McKinnon slowly rolls up in his well-marked Cape Breton Regional Police Service truck and stops alongside the parked minivan.
“How are you doing today?” he asked the unidentified man in the vehicle.
“Good. Just parking here waiting for my girlfriend to call me,” the driver replied.
“OK, just checking,” responded McKinnon.
The officer responsible for illegal dumping investigations and charges then noticed something unusual once the driver drove off.
“That person had two garbage bags in the back of that vehicle,” McKinnon said, although he stopped short of speculating whether the minivan driver had planned on dumping out those bags.
Anyone caught in the act of illegal dumping in the Cape Breton Regional Municipality would have been charged and, according to CBRM bylaws, slapped with a maximum fine of $697.50.
“Personally, I'd rather spend the $10 on gas and go to the dump instead of spending nearly $700,” McKinnon said.
Soon after, McKinnon resumes his patrol in the same area. Beyond a set of concrete barriers and down a slight incline, the officer spots a disturbing sight: a large swath of trash strewn about, all illegally dumped.
'WE SHOULDN'T BE RESPONSIBLE'
“There's no reason for doing this. We have signs up nearby. We have an app explaining what people need to do and to educate them,” said McKinnon, referring to the CBRM solid waste collection smartphone app and website launched earlier this year.
"I don't have a crystal ball, but I still can't understand why this keeps happening. We shouldn't be responsible for picking up after some people.”
Scenes like these are played out daily as part of McKinnon's checks and reports, all while navigating his way through CBRM streets, gravel roads and restricted paths away from high-traffic routes.
At an abandoned warehouse site in Sydney Mines, he spots a broken TV and large garbage bags all piled into one corner. Rolling up the end of a cul-de-sac not far from the Mayflower Mall, McKinnon spots another large pile of rubbish strewn about – close to the same location where the aforementioned minivan had parked.
Whether it's in Sydney, the Northside, Glace Bay or elsewhere, McKinnon can track down sites behind concrete barriers, in culverts where ATVs normally travel, or along gravel roads restricted for heavy equipment users.
Depending on the size of the garbage pile, he will take on the task of cleaning up the mess or request a solid waste crew to come in and remove the pile.
“I'll find someone in this area who I can trust, I'll give them a number to call and they can come out and deal with it.
“But you can see how this is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job. This illegal dumping is getting to be widespread. It's saddening the amount of garbage that gets dumped — and it seems people are finding different areas to toss away all this stuff.
“It's pathetic and gross.”
'INVALUABLE SERVICE'
Over the past six years, the CBRM's Solid Waste Management Department has averaged about 200 calls on illegal dumping alone, with anywhere between one to eight charges laid, according to department figures. Just this past year alone, solid waste education co-ordinator Roschell Clarke said in an email that of the 238 calls the department received on alleged dumping, 204 were in connection to illegal dumping.
McKinnon said he just started his role in January. But Cape Breton Environmental Association president Dylan Yates feels the officer is providing an invaluable service to the CBRM.
“We recognize the need to get these illegal dumping sites investigated properly,” Yates said. “A lot of his work has gone on the down-low. People really need to understand how much of an issue this really is – and we want to public to report these sites.”