Illegal dumping in Calgary’s NE making a messy situation for residents

Some northeast Calgary residents are getting fed up over items being illegally dumped on their street.

The litter is scattered along parts of 128 Avenue, Barlow Trail and Stonehill Drive, a good chunk of which is slated for development.

A toilet bowl, what appears to be roof shingles, and a mattress make up just some of the types of litter seen scattered across the land.

Despite signs not only discouraging people from illegally dumping their items and warning of cameras in the area, residents and workers in the area say the mess just keeps on getting bigger.

“People just dump it, they see nobody is around in the night time,” one area worker said.

He says that people have been dumping trash for the last year and a half, possibly two.

“It’s pretty disheartening, these are still our city streets,” said a resident.

“It’s just getting so densely populated in these new areas, and there’s already not a ton of natural designated green spaces, let alone garbage and sorting facilities,” she said. “If they are not accessible, people aren’t going to put in the extra effort to drive into town to get what they need.”

The City of Calgary said it has received a complaint about illegal dumping in the area and is investigating, including reviewing any possible CCTV footage.

In a statement, the city said it enforces “the Waste and Recycling Bylaw on private land, with fines of up to $250 per incident, and the Street Bylaw on public areas, with fines of up to $1,000 per incident, to discourage such behavior.”

It added that items illegally dumped on public land will be removed by the city, but property owners may be sent the bill if items are illegally dumped on their own private property.