How to (legally) dump your garbage for free

More than 20 years after the Waste Watch program started on P.E.I., the CEO of Island Waste Management Corporation finds it "discouraging" Islanders are still dumping garbage illegally on private property.

Gerry Moore says much of the garbage people dump illegally can be taken free of charge to drop-off locations or even placed at the curb for pickup.

'Bluebag material'

"There is bluebag material that is recyclable that can be collected free of charge curbside at a resident's home that is disposed ofillicitly in locations," he said.

Speaking on Mainstreet P.E.I., Moore was responding to a story on CBC about a woman in Cardigan who is frustrated with people dumping garbage on her property.

• Cardigan woman fed up with truckloads of garbage dumped on her land

Moore said a lot of garbage old household items such as fridges, stoves and mattresses, as well as paint, chemicals and engine oil can be dropped off free of charge at any of the Waste Watch centres across the Island. They are located in Brockton, Wellington, New London, Charlottetown, Dingwells Mills and Murray River.

To this day some people will still take the time to load it on a truck and dispose of it on someone else's property in an illegal manner when a lot of times they could drive it to our site. Gerry Moore

Some garbage mostly commercial or demolition material such as gyprock, baby barns, old decks and roofing shingles cost $115 a tonne to dump at the centres.

Islanders have been required to sort their garbage since the Waste Watch program began more than 20 years ago, but Moore said it is still a "continual education."

"To this day some people will still take the time to load it on a truck and dispose of it on someone else's property in an illegal manner when a lot of times they could drive it to our site. A lot of times the material they are trying to unload wouldn't be any charge for them at all."

Moore said if landowners find garbage illegally dumped on their property, they should contact their bylaw enforcement officer or the province if they want someone to look into it.

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