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The city has a program in place where residents in single-family detached homes can legally leave four large items per year at the curb for pickup, he said, but noted many are not aware of it. The city will aim to raise awareness of the program, which he said will also be rolled out in a pilot project to include multi-family homes.

Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver plans to issue a report next month on how to deal specifically with mattresses, which were banned from the local dump in 2011 and as a result cost $15 to recycle.

Henderson noted Metro has been lobbying the province to include mattresses in a stewardship program — where those who manufacture and sell mattresses also pay to have them recycled — but the issue isn’t expected to be addressed until next year. The move would make it free for mattresses to be recycled.

Shamus said having the recycling fees waived could help discourage the illegal dumping. The situation is likely to worsen as the region continue to grow, he said, and it’s crucial Metro municipalities work together to tackle the issue.

Most of the mattresses dumped in Vancouver are around multi-family homes, likely because those tenants don’t have vehicles to haul them away.

“Not everyone has a car. It makes it more challenging to get the material from your home to the local transfer station,” he said. “It’s not just us. We’re going to have more success if we look at from the region’s (perspective).”

Henderson agreed that stiffer recycling and tipping fees are having an impact on dumping across the region, although he noted gypsum is still being dumped regularly across the region and there are concerns it could contain asbestos.

Meanwhile, the regional district will look at waiving tipping fees for volunteer community cleanup events, and charging a surcharge to haulers who appear at transfer stations with unsecured loads.

A staff report suggests charging a 50 per cent surcharge, to a maximum of $50, to haulers with unsecured loads in an attempt to reduce incidents of “escaped” trash hitting the streets during travel.

ksinoski@postmedia.com

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