Council passed a motion Thursday night to have its Police Advisory Board discuss the issue with RCMP Staff Sergeant John Berry.
The issue was introduced for discussion by Councillor Lloyd Gibbs who said he had been shown several illegal dumpsites by a Greenfield property owner.
“And he showed me three different locations where people had been dumping and it’s a disgraceful mess,” Gibbs said. “This problem really has been exacerbated in my area over the last couple of months.”
Gibbs said he has seen illegal dumpsites that consisted of everything from building materials, to tires, oil cans and toilets.
“I think we need some deterrence.”
The municipality’s current policy regarding illegal dumps is to contact the person responsible, if identifying information is available to indicate where the garbage came from, and request that they clean it up.
“And we’ve been really successful with that,” in such cases where identification is possible, Waste Reduction manager Darlyne Proctor told the Truro Daily News.
If the person refuses, then the county conducts the clean up and bills the offending party, provided identification can be ascertained. Difficulties arise, however, if someone has paid another party to properly dispose of their garbage but fails to carry it out.
And then there is the problem of dealing with garbage that does not contain identifying information, such as building materials.
Coun. Tom Taggart, who introduced the motion to initiate discussions with the RCMP, said he believes the police should be directed to check out such sites and try to locate the offending party so that charges could be laid when the identification of an illegal dumper is determined.
On Twitter: @tdnharry
