Small Steps: Choosing a Healthy Sustainable Life: Busted! Illegal Backcountry Trash Dumpers caught on Video

Monday 15 March 2021

Busted! Illegal Backcountry Trash Dumpers caught on Video

Have you ever dumped anything out in the bush? Or in a ditch along the side of the road? Or maybe in an empty lot?

No??

Maybe it was just some grass clippings or leaves or some sod?

Or maybe it was more than that...

Illegal dumping (or fly tipping in the UK) is on the rise in many countries. It can include anything from grass clippings to cars to appliances to pallets to construction waste to medical waste. It is a huge environmental problem. Apart from leaching toxins into the soil (asbestos, chemicals, bio-hazards) illegal dumping can also spread noxious and invasive weeds.

Yard waste dumped in an empty lot might not just be "grass" clippings but might include invasive species that threaten the native ecosystem. Over here... that includes things like

English Ivy
Himalayan Blackberry
English Hawthorn
Japanese Knotweed - Polygonum cuspidatum
Policeman's Helmet or Himalayan Balsam - Impatiens glandulifera
Scotch Broom
Butterfly Bush
English Holly
Morning Glory
Spurge Laurel - Daphne laureola
Gorse

Such plants should never be included within your compost bin either but should be double bagged and sent to the landfill where they can be buried forever...

Illegal dumping also costs taxpayers (that's you and me) millions of dollars every year. It's not a cheap thing to bring in a crane and trucks to haul away derelict cars, tires, machinery, appliances and other crap.

Caught Red-Handed

Some municipalities and regional districts, rather than just cleaning up after someone's made a mess, are getting proactive and installing motion-activated trail cameras at some of the most popular illegal dumping sites. Busted!!

And it's not just hidden cameras that can track down illegal dumpers. One farm owner in New Brunswick found 30 to 40 garbage bags worth of garbage strewn in the ditch in front of his family farm. While cleaning it up, he found a Nike box with a shipping label receipt inside that gave him the name and address of the perpetrator. The farmer drove to the address, confronted the perpetrator, who eventually admitted his guilt and told the perpetrator to unload the garbage onto his front lawn.

Some irate land owners haven't been so polite... they have just driven to the address found within the pile of garbage and dumped it on someone's front lawn (presumably that of the perpetrator). That can of course backfire as the land owner is simply doing the same as the perpetrator... illegal dumping.

Some upset property owners, when they find identifiable information in a pile of garbage, call out the perpetrator online via social media. But that can lead to other problems... sometimes legal... so is not ideal. But what can irate land owners to do? Apparently, not much. Unless you have photos and videos... a simple visual description and license plate number won't stand up in court.

Of course there are the rare times where a person will be caught live on a dashcam, in the very act of dumping stuff out in the bush. I always wonder... what happened after the camera shut off? Did the perpetrator obediently take his stuff to a legal dump? Or did he just find another, less patrolled spot?

Other Forms of Illegal Dumping

As noted above, illegal dumping also includes dumping yard waste in natural areas (yes, even Christmas trees). But it also includes such seemingly innocuous things such as dumping household waste in a public garbage can or dumpster (even your dumpster at work). My Dad would do this for some odd reason. He would take a bag of his garbage along to Walmart and dump in the garbage can our front. I tend to think it was mostly empty cookie packages that he was trying to hide from us!

And... putting an item out at the curb and placing a "Free" sign on it can be problematic as well. Inevitably, the old couch (or whatever) is not taken and then it rains and the item is essentially abandoned at the curb... yep, that's illegal dumping.

Why Do People Dump?

That's always the burning question. Why do people dump things in the ditch or in the bush?

Apparently "convenience" is a big driver, although that doesn't always make sense. Some of the remote bush dump sites are a longer drive than the regional landfill. Sometimes people don't want to have to deal with the hassle of sorting their waste. Easier to just toss it all in the truck and dump it somewhere.

Cost is often cited as an issue since some waste actually costs money to dispose of at the landfill (harmful construction waste - e.g. drywall with asbestos). Even yard waste can cost money - usually $/pound. On the other hand, many items can be dropped off for free at our local recycling depot - anything made out of metal... any appliances... any propane tanks or canisters... paint cans (with legible labels). And the list goes on.

Ignorance seems to be a driving motivator for illegal dumping. People don't know the environmental dangers of what they are dumping... or they just don't care. And they aren't aware of the numerous legal means for getting rid of unwanted items.

Beware of the Two Guys and a Truck Scheme

And finally... a word of warning. After my Dad passed away, we needed to get rid of his old (1960s?) mattress and box spring. We didn't have a pick-up truck capable of hauling it off to the dump. So we looked on Kijiji and found two guys with a truck who would come and haul it away for us. Only $40! Seemed like a good deal. They came and loaded up. We paid them cash and they left.

But... did they really take it to the dump? Did they really pay the dump fee. The average cost to dispose of a box spring and mattress in our regional district is... $15 each. That's $30 in dump fees. Yeah. I'm going to guess that Dad's old mattress is mouldering away in some illegal dump site in the bush.

Live and learn. Beware of any "cheap" offers by a couple of guys with a truck who offer to haul garbage away for you. There is no guarantee that your garbage is going to end up in the dump.

Happily... things have progressed in the last few years to the point where many landfills are now diverting mattresses to be recycled rather than buried in a landfill!

On a final note... even legitimate companies can run into trouble with illegal dumping, often because their employees are too lazy or uninformed to adhere to company policy. In Chicago, one truck from the Two Men and a Truck Moving Company were actually caught dumping furniture in an alley. The two guys were fired and the company had to come and haul the furniture away.