Persistent illegal dumping frustrates North End residents

Residents in Winnipeg's North End say they are frustrated with a problem that keeps piling up: abandoned furniture, renovation waste and other debris landing illegally intheir autobins.

Last year, the city received nearly 1,000 complaints about illegal dumping or littering in Winnipeg, but no one has been prosecuted under the city's anti-litter bylaw. City officials say catching the culprits dumping on private or public property is almost impossible.

But Rob Neufeld, executive director of the North End Community Renewal Corporation, recently caught someone in the act.

"One day when I was coming to work, I came down the alley to park and I saw this truck coming," he said. "It was stopping at each dumpster, throwing a little bit of refuse into each dumpster."

Neufeld confronted the driver, who said someone else had dumped the waste in his yard "and he was just getting rid of it," he recalled.

Neufeld, whose organization works with residents and business groups working to revitalize the North End, said it's usually people from outside the North End who dump their waste illegally in residents' autobins.

He warned the problem will get worse this summer, when warm weather spurs spring cleanup and renovation efforts that will create more garbage.

Peter Parys, administrative co-ordinator with the city's environmental services department, said most illegal dumpers work late at night, making them difficult to catch in the act.

"There's nobody out there, there's no neighbours, there's no inspectors or anybody," he said. "They dump it off real quick and they take off."

The city is working with the North End Community Renewal Corporation to address the problem.

In the meantime, Neufeld suggests residents themselves take action and confront people they see putting their waste into neighbourhood dumpsters.

"Let's stop that truck when it comes down and tell them, 'Don't do it. Why are you doing it?' " he said, suggesting residents take down licence plate numbers of those who don't have a good explanation for their actions.