Who Dumps Junk Around Victoria?

Photos courtesy Nevin Thompson

“This time of the year is the worst for illegal dumping,” says John Sturdy, Assistant Director Engineering and Public Works at the City of Victoria. “University students are finishing their classes and are leaving for the summer.”

As part of this annual exodus, as they face moving out and reclaiming their damage deposit cheques, many students leave unwanted belonging on the curb.

The practice of curbside dumping in April and May has become such a tradition that the CRD actually trucks dumpsters onto campus to help students get rid of unwanted household items.

“Tons of waste” are left at the curb around the Greater Victoria region, according to the CRD’s environmental resources management team.

Municipalities are left picking it up and taking it to landfill.

“Not only do we have to pay the labour costs of trucking away trash left on the curb, we have to pay dumping fees as well” at the Hartland dump, says Victoria’s John Sturdy.

Since the practice of dumping unwanted items at the curbside is illegal, the City of Victoria has to scramble to find the money to deal with the problem.

Sturdy says the extra money spent for the cleanup comes out of the general allocation for maintenance of “islands”, medians, and the grasses verges that line roadways.

But at the end of the day, Sturdy says, money spent on dealing with illegal dumping means it can’t be spent somewhere else.

Sturdy says the problem of illegal dumping has gotten worse over the years, likely because of stricter municipal bylaws on disposing of waste.

“Now you have to rent a truck, which costs about a hundred dollars, and, to get rid of a couch, pay a tipping fee, so you’re looking at $150 or so, just to get rid of a couch,” says Sturdy.

It’s easier to leave a couch or television on the roadside.

However, Sturdy says green efforts to become more environmentally sustainable in Greater Victoria, and save precious space at the Hartland Dump means the situation may get worse.

“In the near future things will get worse as we have to separate waste metal from wood, for example,” says Sturdy. “We won’t be able to just dump a couch off at Hartland. Or it will become more expensive to do so.”

Sturdy says there are very few mechanisms to stop illegal dumping.

“There are municipal bylaws and fines for people caught in the act,” says Sturdy, “But no witnesses want to go to court to testify, especially if the culprits are neighbours.”

A good sales strategy for dealing with the problem is for the “dumpers” to offer to sell the junk for five dollars, rather than offering it for free. People would be more inclined to take the junk away.