Take responsibility for your own actions.
That’s what I urged one of my readers who recently asked me to write about how he has “no choice” but to illegally dump some of his stuff around Burnaby.
Yes, you read that right – an alleged grownup was defending soiling our fine community with his trash because he said it’s “too expensive” to do it legally.
“If I want to get rid of big stuff the city and Metro Vancouver need to make it easier and free for me to do it,” said the man, who dropped by the office recently to “pitch” me on a story.
He honestly thought I would take up his righteous cause and rail against the government.
“I don’t want to do it but getting rid of some of this stuff is too expensive,” he said.
Good grief. I tried my best to be polite, but I’ve heard this stuff for years from people who already benefit from a lot of free removal services.
It was the same feeling I get when I see people deliberately dumping their garbage right under a City of Burnaby sign that says “no dumping.”
The sign (pictured above) is on Horne Street near Lougheed mall in a fire lane near our office and I regularly see items like mattresses and toilets dumped right under the sign.
The infuriating thing is that there are resources available to help people dispose of their stuff, such as mattresses and other items.
That, of course, requires people to sacrifice a little of their time and effort. People are, of course, often lazy and so they take the easy way out and damage our community. I literally cannot drive around our city one time without seeing something dumped illegally.
The regional government called Metro Vancouver is pushing to stop the dumping of items.
In 2020, Metro Vancouver municipalities reported more than 47,000 incidents of illegal dumping, an increase of 8% from 2019 (the last numbers I’ve seen issued). Cleaning up and properly disposing of that abandoned waste and operating large-item pickup programs costs local governments about $5.8 million each year.
The most common types of abandoned waste include bulky items — mattresses, furniture, appliances, carpeting and tires — as well as green waste, household garbage and construction debris.
Old mattresses, broken microwaves and expired car seats aren’t the only types of items that need to be considered.
The region’s residents trashed more than 500 million pieces of PPE last year, according to a recent waste composition study, and a significant amount of PPE has been found littered on streets and in green spaces, causing headaches for residents and municipalities alike.
Visit wasteinitsplace.ca for waste disposal and donation options, and use the municipal search tool to find large-item disposal programs in your community. The site also provides information on safe PPE disposal options and tips for washing reusable masks.
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
