Illegal dumping raises councillor’s ire

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This article was published 10/09/2024 (633 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon City Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) says he is “beyond frustrated” with people dumping their household garbage at a neighbourhood recycling and organic depot in the city’s west end.

“It is absolutely frustrating,” Cameron said. “It’s basically illegal dumping, whether folks aren’t wanting to take it all the way out to the landfill, or whether people just aren’t reading the signs correctly on site.

“But when I went there the other day, there was regular household garbage to furniture, to any number of things — that isn’t what the area is designed for,” he said.

The recycling depot at the corner of 34th Street and Victoria Avenue is one of six locations in Brandon where people can drop off their items at no charge.

That west end location and the depot at Brandon’s Community Sportsplex are set up to accept household recycling, including cardboard, plastics, glass food and beverage containers, Tetra Paks and aluminum cans, as well as grass clippings and other yard and kitchen waste.

The three depots that only accept yard and garden/kitchen waste are Westridge Community Centre, First Street and Richmond Avenue, and Franklin Street on the east side of Rideau Park.

And the final location, at the south end of the Keystone Centre, is only to be used for household recycling.

The Sun went to four of the recycling depots on Sunday and Monday. The Keystone Centre and Richmond Avenue locations had no refuse beyond what was listed as acceptable, but there was a mattress and household garbage bags on the ground at both the 34th Street and Victoria Avenue and Sportsplex locations, as well as large tree branches, which are not within the guidelines.

Cameron said he’s been hearing “from area residents on a regular basis” about the increase in the amount of trash being dumped at the 34th Street and Victoria Avenue depot.

“I’ve been called about it many times,” he said. “In fact, over the last number of months, or close to a year now, we’ve really started to see a large uptick of household garbage and mostly discarded furniture.

“But it’s a systemic problem across the city that people disregard those recycling depots as being the landfill. The Sportsplex drop-off has issues with it, the Keystone lot too.

“And we don’t have anything firm yet, but administration is looking at what they could do better to manage that site. They’re looking at anything under the sun right now, whether potentially relocating it, or other options as far as fencing, staffing, cameras in place,” Cameron said.

“Unfortunately, all of that does come with a cost, and it is unfortunate again, but that cost would be borne by the residents because of a few, shall we say, bad actors who are misusing that space.”

General manager of operations Patrick Pulak said he is “keenly aware of what happens at these depots,” and is currently putting a plan together on how to address it “over the next year or two.”

“It’s hard for us to enforce because we can’t be there 24/7, but the solution that we’re going to put in place will hopefully resolve that,” Pulak said.

“I’m pretty sure you’re going to see it in the 2025, budget. So, our plan is to implement something for next year.”

In the meantime, Pulak added, people can monitor the depots and if someone “sees somebody, take a picture, get a licence plate and we can track them down.”

“The depots are not being used for what they’re supposed to be used for. People are using them as a glorified landfill,” he said.

The cost — or tipping fee — to take a load up to 250 kilograms to the city’s Eastview Landfill Site is $7.

“That’s all it is, $7,” Pulak said. “So, I don’t understand. Some of the people that we’ve caught — some of them have been commercial businesses — should know better.”

Cameron said that the televisions, couches, paint and all sorts of items that are left at the depots “end up contaminating the recycling process, which is counterproductive, and is unsightly for the city’s neighbourhoods.”

“Thirty-Fourth Street is one of our nicest corridors, it’s a bike path and a multi-use path, and people are running right beside it, and it’s essentially become a quasi-landfill,” he added.

“So, hopefully between administration and council, we can get creative in how we can better manage that site and ensure that it is used for its intended purpose.

“And if people aren’t using it for their intended purpose, then they face the repercussions of that.”

Brandon City Council approved changes to its bylaw governing solid waste collection in December 2023, which included issuing tickets to businesses that deposit waste at residential depots and for residents who put contaminated materials into collection bins.

For all the new offences, residents will have to pay $125 for a first offence, $250 for a second offence and $500 for a third offence if the tickets are paid within 15 days, or $250 for a first offence, $500 for a second and $1,000 for a third if they are paid after 15 days.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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