P.A. survey looks for ‘why’ of illegal dumping

Efforts to end the flow of garbage heading into the forests and land around Prince Albert could spread across the province.

The Keep Prince Albert and Area Beautiful working group is centred on the idea that teamwork is needed to tackle the all-too-common issue of illegal dumping.

There were a few events before the group’s official Saturday launch at John M. Cuelenaere Library for Seedy Saturday, including an Earth Day garbage pickup by ministry of environment staff last Wednesday. 

“What we’re hoping to do is to get a successful pilot project out of this to show that stakeholders need to come together to tackle this. The City can’t do it alone, the R.M.’s can’t do it alone, the ministry can’t do it alone,” the ministry of environment’s manager of landfills Sarah Keith told people who’d gathered on Saturday.

Among several rural municipalities, 15 different partners are going to do much more than collect the garbage that’s been dumped in disturbing quantities in the area.

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If successful they want to take this model to other problem areas of the province.

Research done by students at Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s Prince Albert campus maps out about 80 illegal dumping sites, sorting them based on high, medium, and low use.

The students have also taken pictures to add to the maps of each site.

“There seems to be a lot more stakeholder and citizen concern when they see the amount of litter and garbage that’s going into our forest,” Keith said.

What are people and dumping, and why?

“A lot of the material that is being dumped is actually recyclable material” including tires, televisions, fridges, washers and dryers, something Keith said is disappointing to see in the area’s forests.

Keith said a survey is available online to “try and determine what is deterring from actually using the landfill and trying to find out the mindset of the citizens around Prince Albert and what would encourage them to use the landfill more, if there are any changes that can be made on that front.”

Administering the survey is another role Saskatchewan Polytechnic’s taken on with the pilot project.

One hint at a possible solution to dumping issues came when Keith mentioned seeing shingles dropped of just next to the landfill.

“Why would someone get that close to the dump and then decide” to abandon the shingles anyway? Keith wondered out loud.

A woman in the audience piped up, saying the last time she was at the landfill she was “shocked” by how much it costs to dispose of shingles at the landfill.

Keith pointed out there’s the possibility of recycling shingles to eliminate the need to take them to the landfill at all.

“It is a material that doesn’t have to be disposed of,” and the ministry is working with the city and R.M.’s to address that.

Construction and demolition waste a primary issue

Keith told the group cleanup crews have found things like linoleum flooring and shingles dumped along with whole trailers.

Among educational programming for children, there are upcoming events to align with the City of Prince Albert’s Pitch-in Days from May 4 to 9 and a forest cleanup planned for June 6 and 7.

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Keep Prince Albert and Area Beautiful can be found on Facebook and again, that survey can be found here. 

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk