Jamie Sarkonak: Time for a reckoning against illegal garbage dumping

“No dumping” signs line a segment of Norwood Road where illegal dumping has been an ongoing issue in Charlottetown. Photo by Logan MacLean

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One of Alberta’s greatest Samaritans is a man who goes by the online alias “One Ditch at a Time.” He scours the countryside for illegally dumped garbage along roadsides and fencelines, documents it, names and shames whenever possible (and it’s often possible, based on how much mail gets tossed), and prepares the trash for pickup or takes it away himself.

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But, as satisfying as his fight against dumping is, one can’t help but feel disappointed at just how steep this uphill battle is across Canada. This is a growing problem everywhere, and the authorities have little to say about it beyond the municipal level. Except, perhaps, in Alberta.

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During a news conference last Tuesday with Premier Danielle Smith, a reporter asked whether the province was considering whether to crack down on illegal dumping — perhaps by assembling a team of officers to track down perpetrators and getting them to pay for the cleanup. Smith gave an encouraging reply: “We need to do something in the fall,” she said. Currently under consideration is a provincewide $10,000 fine and two years’ jail.

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Alberta’s environmental protection law currently caps dumping fines at $250 for individuals and $1,000 for corporations.

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Consultations, Smith added, were currently open. “Maybe that is too high a penalty, but, you know, I was a kid who grew up in the ’70s when we had a do-not-litter campaign, and I still, if I’m on a walk and see litter, will pick it up and put it in the garbage can.” She also said that she was open to running a new public awareness campaign against littering.

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My personal feedback is that we need to go a lot further. The possibility of a $10,000 fine is not enough to deter dumpers — that’s plain enough from places where that’s already the ceiling. It was just in August that a woman caught a group of men in a work truck depositing wood chip waste onto her family’s land in Rocky View County, the region that encircles much of Calgary. There, municipal bylaws cap dumping fines at $10,000.

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When a local journalist asked the county about what happened, a spokesperson said she couldn’t comment on individual cases. And there’s another problem that must be fixed under any provincial law on illegally dumping trash: anonymity. Allegations against individuals and companies need to be public. If I’m looking to hire a disposal company, or a landscaping company, or something else that can save time and money by dumping garbage where our food is grown, I should be able to properly inform my choice.

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The public interest in stopping trash dumpers is immense. One of the great principles of the West is that there is an inherent dignity to green spaces that should be respected; another, of course, is private property. People who empty their garbage alongside what are usually rural roads are violating usually one, and often both. It harms wildlife; it pollutes waterways and groundwater if there’s enough of it; it can cost landowners thousands to clean up. The more normalized this is, the more backwards Canada will become. No amount of plastic-straw bans can make up for that.