The man drove up to the dumpster behind the boulevard Gréber art supply shop under the cover of darkness and began unloading junk. His trailer empty, he drove away into the night.

A CBC cameraman captured the whole thing, but the man didn't seem to care.

The next morning, Martine McFadden, owner of À l'Échelle du Monde, discovered her container overflowing with bulky trash. There were kitchen cabinets, bulging bags and even an old stove.

McFadden had become the latest victim of illegal drive-by dumping, a practice Gatineau business owners complain has turned into an epidemic.

"I'm exasperated, and I kind of lose faith in humankind," McFadden said.

Art store owner Martine McFadden says someone cut the padlock on the dumpster outside her Gatineau shop and filled it with large items. 0:48

New pickup policy

She's tried to stop the nocturnal visitors by sealing her dumpster with a padlock, but one culprit simply cut the chains.

Now she must pay a waste removal company for an extra visit to haul someone else's trash away.

The man with the trailer isn't the only target of McFadden's ire, however: in July the City of Gatineau reduced the pickup schedule for large household items and construction waste from once every two weeks to just once every three months. Residents are charged $50 if they bring large items to a waste depot outside scheduled dates.

Since the new policy took hold, Gatineau's bylaw department has received 67 complaints about illegal dumping. Over the same period last year, there were just 18 complaints.

Three out of every five complaints involved large items, often left in commercial dumpsters like McFadden's.

Complaints about illegal dumping have increased dramatically since the city's new garbage pickup policy went into effect July 15. (Judy Trinh/CBC)

BIA urges city to act

The local business improvement association says the city needs to do more to help local businesses deal with the growing problem.

"In the last month we've had more bigger stuff that has been appearing, and stuff that we don't know what it is," said Jesse Fleet of Marché du Vieux Gatineau. "The people who come pick up our containers say [they] can't take it, and we have to start figuring out where it goes."

So far, Fleet said the city has done little beyond advising business owners to install surveillance cameras and turn over footage to police.

Jocelyn Blondin, one of six Gatineau councillors urging the city to revise its pickup policy, said he's heard many complaints from both businesses and residents. He's pushing for additional pickups, and for the city to waive fees for bulky household items at municipal waste facilities.

Blondin said he plans to bring forward a motion at the next council meeting on Aug. 28