The bylaw officers who patrol Hamilton's alleyways live in a bizarre, grimy world.

It's a world fraught with turf wars over trash, detective work in garbage bags and mounds of illegally dumped waste.

Most of Hamilton paid no attention to those alleys – until bylaw staff ticketed Ted Pudney for cleaning up trash in an alleyway near his building on King William Street earlier this month.

The city said he cleaned up trash from private property moved it to a public alley for pickup when based on city bylaws, he shouldn't have. After a predictable community backlash, the city withdrew the ticket.

The incident certainly didn't endear the city's bylaw staff to the general public – but it did shine a light on a tiny task force tasked with patrolling 98 kilometres of alleyways in Hamilton that are ground zero for illegal dumping. These areas are coming under increased scrutiny as community members and groups "claim ownership" of their city's spaces — nooks and crannies and all.

So with more focus on those alleys and a concerted community push to clean them up, is that task force enough? And should there be more oversight to make sure what happened to Pudney doesn't happen again?

In an ideal world, I'd like to see everyone taking pride in the area in which they live. - Tamara Reid, bylaw officer and project supervisor

There are only three part-time bylaw staffers tasked with curbing garbage in the city's alleys. They're part of a pilot project that's been running since 2012 that's set to clue up at the end of this year.

"It used to be the Wild West," project supervisor Tamara Reid told CBC News. "They were just pulling out loads of garbage every day from the city's alleys."

Turf war for trash

When you slink through Hamilton's alleyways professionally you see some weird things. Take the ongoing battle for Westdale – perhaps the most lucrative area for the city's "scavengers" – people who root through trash looking for cans and other metal to sell.

Thanks to a steady flow of beer cans from McMaster students and scrap aluminum selling for $3 to $4 a pound right now, there's actually an ongoing turf war happening between two people over whose right it is to paw through the area's garbage.

There are even some people from Ancaster who drive around in a car with blue bins strapped to the top grabbing recyclables.

Combine that contractors dumping shingles and house supplies alongside the usual garbage, dirty needles, couches and mattresses that pile up in an alley, and these few officers have their hands full.

Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Green – whose ward contains about 38 per cent of the city's alleyways – says the alleyway enforcement team "totally" should be expanded from its current tiny iteration. "It would be a shame to see it fall off – I feel like we're really just starting to see progress on this," he said.

Downtown Coun. Jason Farr said he'd also consider expanding the program, based on what city staff has to say about it. "My guess is, given the persistence of this problem, an expansion may be validated," he said.

The Sherlock Holmes of garbage bags

Right now city bylaw staff have been actively working on two problem alleys: one off King Street from that stretches from John to Wellington, and another off Barton Street south of Canon, between Grosvenore and Ottawa Street.

Bylaw officers have laid 20 charges for illegal dumping in the King Street alley since last August, Reid says, and tickets range from $125 to $610. They don't even have to actually catch someone in the act – officers will sift through bags of garbage looking for bills or prescriptions to track people down and charge them.

Officers also have about 20 other alleys under "active surveillance," though Reid "won't divulge which ones" to protect the investigation.

Through the city's efforts and neighbourhood groups like the Gibson and Landsdale Area planning team, the Sherman Hub and business improvement groups in downtown and Barton Street, Hamilton's alleys are getting more attention, Reid says. The Beautiful Alleys clean up project took place this month, where over 100 community volunteers signed up to clean 32 of the city's alleys.

"In an ideal world, I'd like to see everyone taking pride in the area in which they live," Reid said.

adam.carter@cbc.ca | AdamCarterCBC