It took less than a week for the security cameras outside Brian Paul’s apartment building in Edmonton to capture the trash trespassers.
Paul, the owner of a 16-unit building just north of NAIT, was frustrated after paying roughly $1,000 a year to have oversized junk removed from back alleyway. In mid-January, he had a camera installed and trained on the dumpster in hopes of catching someone illegally dumping garbage.
“We’re getting tired of the expense for people that are too lazy or whatever to take their own garbage to the dump,” Paul said. “It gets put on building owners across the city and it’s not right. These people have no regard for properties and are just taking an easy way and we’re tired of it.”
Four days later — the afternoon of Jan. 21 — a blue pickup truck and a dark blue sedan appear on the security cameras. Two men hop out of the truck and hurriedly toss three pieces of furniture beside the dumpster. A man gets out of the sedan and appears to stand guard, at one point doing an awkward shuffle towards the truck when a piece of furniture falls apart.
But the license plate was out of focus and the men were gone within 90 seconds.
“I was quite shocked to see this,” Paul said. “It’s almost comical if it wasn’t so sad.”
Paul, who has a stake in two other buildings in the city, said his company regularly pays more than $3,000 a year to clean up incidents of illegal dumping.
A decline in littering on city property
Chrystal Coleman, a spokesperson with the City of Edmonton, said illegal dumping is a challenging issue that “impacts the whole community.”
“When someone deliberately dumps waste on public or private property without consent, it is often extremely difficult to witness,” Coleman said in an emailed statement. “When the act is witnessed and we receive a witness statement, we will investigate and may issue a ticket.”
But, without a witness, the city addresses instances of illegal dumping on private property as a “nuisance on land.” In those cases, the property owner has to clean up the garbage or face penalty.
While the City of Edmonton doesn’t record statistics related to illegal dumping on private property, there was a reported decline in littering on public lands last year. The city received 320 littering complaints on city property in 2018, a 20 per cent drop over 2017 numbers. The complaints only led bylaw officers to issue 14 tickets last year, with fines ranging from $250 to $10,000.
A strain on property owners city-wide
Paula Allard oversees 20 multi-unit buildings in Edmonton with Davies Property Management and said she deals with illegal dumping “on a daily basis.” The smaller buildings in her portfolio will spend hundreds of dollars to deal with illegal dumping, she said, with larger buildings losing thousands of dollars.
“There’s a financial strain on the owners,” she said. “It’s not a bad business to be in, the junk removal industry.”
Paula Allard, a property manager, said there’s a “financial strain on the owners” when they have to pay for junk removal after people illegally dump garbage. (Paula Allard)
The amount of furniture beside the dumpster got particularly bad last summer, Allard said, when five tenants moved out of a downtown apartment building in the same month.
“The City of Edmonton called to inform me they had thought a bomb had gone off in the dumpster,” she said.
Allard said she wasn’t sure there was much the city could do, other than give owners a warning and leave them the chance to handle the mess themselves before handing out fines.
“The City of Edmonton called to inform me they had thought a bomb had gone off in the dumpster– Paula Allard, property manager
Adam Boussaada, property manager for Group Three Property Management, has tried out is renting a large dumpster from EPCOR for spring and winter “clean ups” at a downtown building. The bin costs roughly $300, but he said it’s worth the price for the owner.
“It has saved us money just in comparison to the months before,” he said. “It’s giving them an option and educating the residents to know that it’s their responsibility.”
There are a handful of options for garbage disposal in the City of Edmonton, including recycling depots, eco stations and the Gold Bar waste management facility.
The 15 recycling stations accept paper, boxes and other recyclable containers. The four eco stations handle electronics and household hazardous waste, as well as larger items from sofas to dishwashers. The waste centre takes it all.
Paul, for his part, expressed hope the video could deter would-be litter lawbreakers.
“I hope they see this video and they think twice before they do that again.”