#WasteWednesday

This week we’re talking about the penalties for dumping, disposing of, and abandoning waste outside of a landfill or transfer station, also known as littering and illegal dumping.

The Municipal District of Bonnyville Council recently passed a motion to increase the penalties for these environmentally harmful infractions up to a maximum of $2,000 per offence. The M.D. has 31 bin site locations and seven landfill transfer stations that residents can use at no charge. The goal of this strategy is to help ensure waste and recyclables are handled properly with the environmental impacts of what we do top of mind. Littering and abandoning items on the ground at bin sites, dead end roads, and at landfill gates are all forms of illegal dumping and have an environmental and financial impact.

So, how can we be better?

1. Put your waste in a bag, tie a knot in it, and put it in a household waste dumpster. Litter comes in many forms. Whether it is tossed out a vehicle window or was loosely put into a dumpster and then it blows out during the transfer process, it is still litter and if we bag it there will be less chance of it ending up in our ditches and fields. Waste is transferred three to four times before it leaves the M.D. for its final landfill destination and if it’s not bagged properly for the first transfer, it can easily end up as contamination in our neighbourhoods.
2. If you have something that doesn’t fit in a garbage bag, bring it to one of our landfill transfer stations and dispose of it properly. You might actually find out that it can be recycled. Many different items can be recycled these days including your old mattresses and over 600 types of household electric and battery powered items.
3. If it’s an item that has some life left in it, I encourage you to bring it to one of our seven landfill transfer stations and drop it off in the freecycle shed where someone else can make use of it. Please don’t abandon it on the ground at a bin site or landfill gate as it will be tossed out by one of our operators on their waste collection and clean up travels. Leaving items on the ground at the sites is a violation under the waste bylaw and also encourages others to do the same. What starts out as a couch turns into a mountain of garbage bags that we’ve all seen left on the ground for someone else to clean up, so you can understand why we want to deter this behaviour.

If you have something to dispose of and you’re not quite sure where it should go, you can always check out the waste location summary on our webpage or leave feedback on our Facebook page #WasteWednesday posts.