People who choose to dump household trash, food/fishing/hunting waste or yard clippings where they believe they won't be caught may think it’s an innocuous act. But those who see that refuse while walking their favourite nature trail see it as irresponsible, ignorant and selfish.
Regardless of personal opinion, one thing is certain, it is illegal.
Pole line is a popular dump zone
According to qathet Regional District (qRD): "Illegal dumping is a pervasive issue in the province of British Columbia and the qRD is not an exception."
Peter Elvy and his dog Matilda frequently enjoy walking part of the pole line between Joyce Avenue and Townsite. After coming across fresh fish carcasses in early October, Elvy contacted the Peak in order to shine a light on this ongoing issue.
"I walk the Sunshine Coast Trail and I walk lot 450, which people call the pole line," said Elvy. "I've seen landscape trimmings, and I've found a freshly dumped pile of personal letters, a bedroom bureau and a whole bunch of personal bills."
Fish carcasses dumped
Elvy reported the fresh fish carcasses he saw dumped to the Fisheries and Oceans Canada report line (1.800.465.4336). He said the person he spoke with confirmed that dumping fish in that manner is definitely illegal.
What frustrates Elvy, he said, is that he sees a lack of enforcement from authorities and lack of accountability from those who continue to dump.
How to stop illegal dumping
The Peak contacted Ingalisa Burns, an environmental consultant with Let's Talk Trash who has years of experience working on waste diversion issues in the qathet region, to try and understand why illegal dumping happens, why people shouldn't do it, who is responsible for enforcement and what residents can do to stop the behaviour.
"So, naturally, one of the things that comes up from a question like, how is dumping harmful, is what is being attracted to that dump site?" said Burns. "When it's something that's edible and there's animals that are hungry, especially right before winter, of course they're going to be attracted."
Right now in the qathet region, black bears are eating and drinking almost constantly, in a state called hyperphagia. Experts warn that if bears become used to accessing human food scraps, they may stick around all winter and not go into hibernation.
"The psychology behind illegal dumping is multifaceted," said Burns. "There's a sense of anonymity when people are doing that activity, so there's not that feeling of responsibility to others or to the environment."
Burns said people who are illegally dumping may also be misunderstanding the monetary cost of properly disposing of material.
"Sometimes, people will be using a vehicle to access the illegal dump site, and so the person has access to transportation of that nature and has put all of their material for disposal in that vehicle, and then have gone to a place where they can dispose of it for free," said Burns. "The misunderstanding there is that many materials can actually be disposed of for free when they're transported to the correct place."
Places to take yard and scrap waste
Within the qathet region and City of Powell River there are plenty of places to dispose of yard waste, organics and windfall fruit, such as Sunshine Disposal and Recycling on Franklin Avenue.
"Anything that's scrap metal is free to dispose of, so if it's already loaded in a vehicle, drive it to the transfer station instead [of illegally dumping]," suggested Burns.
Augusta Recyclers takes scrap metal and currently the new resource-recovery centre on Marine Avenue is accepting municipal solid waste (MSW).
“It's not always the size of the dump site, but it's what's there," said Burns. "Hazardous material, in the form of a lead-acid car battery, could leak into the local environment and pollute streams, affecting salmon."
Burns said one strategy to mitigate illegal dumping seems to be effective by reducing anonymity.
"Sometimes cameras get placed into locations that are common dump sites, and it's really effective to limit access to common dump sites with a gate," said Burns. "Those are actually just systemic changes or infrastructure changes that can help prevent the ease of dumping in places that people tend to go to."
Another factor is sociological; one person thinks they are innocently dumping yard waste, but the fact of the matter, said Burns, is that trash attracts trash.
"It's like a magnet, if someone dumps a Christmas tree, it ends up often becoming a dump site for other either more hazardous items or large and hard to move, like a refrigerator or a car tire," she added.
Community cleanup event
qRD is hosting a community cleanup event at the resource-recovery centre on November 2, running from 9 am to 3 pm.
"Illegal dumping affects various areas including vehicle accessible trails, public spaces, beaches and other natural environments,” stated qRD manager of environmental services Jason Kouwenhoven, in an email to the Peak. “In particular, we see dumping in places that aren't regularly maintained by the city or qRD, which makes addressing the issue more challenging.
"It's important to note that community cleanup initiatives are not intended to handle regular household garbage or waste from backyard cleanups. Nor are they meant to deal with waste generated by businesses."
Reporting helps
Kouwenhoven added that qRD has an Illegal Dumping Strategy document, which is useful for those looking to find out who to report illegal dumping to and which jurisdiction is responsible for cleanup and enforcement.
"The pole line is unfortunately a hot spot given its proximity and easy access by vehicles," stated Kouwenhoven. "If you do come across illegally dumped materials, or witness someone illegally dumping materials, we encourage you to report it through the Report All Poachers and Polluters (R.A.P.P.) program by visiting their website, or calling 1.877.952.7277."
Reporting helps track and address these incidents more effectively, added Kouwenhoven.
Although there seems to be a concerted effort to stop illegal dumping in the qathet region, for people such as Elvy, he is skeptical that things will change.
"People look at the pole line in the bush around Powell River as a convenient dump site," said Elvy. "I've had my life threatened by confronting people doing it."
Elvy said he has contacted the bylaw officer for the city and has made reports, but in his opinion no one seems to be taking action.
“Hopefully, maybe with this story, there can be some sort of action taken by the municipality," added Elvy.
A free mobile phone app called TrashOut (trashout.ngo) helps track local dump spots. To use the app: take a photo of the trash in the app to automatically record the GPS coordinates; upload the photo onto the app and the coordinates will become a pinpoint on the map; then fill out a quick report.
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