People continue to dump garbage at Wantage Road

Although it’s been decades since Wantage Road led to a municipal dump, it appears that some individuals living in Prince Rupert haven’t gotten the memo.

“When you have pay to dump garbage, or the garbage dump is not close to your home, people tend to find the quickest and easiest way to get rid of it. It’s an unfortunate situation.” Said Bill Horne, General Manager of Public Works and Engineering for the City of Prince Rupert.

One of the “quickest and easiest” spots for garbage dumpers appears to be Wantage Road leading up to Mount Hays, where a variety of illegally disposed trash including old refrigerates, washing and drying machines, furniture, clothing, used diapers, etc. can be seen strewn amongst the nature.

Prince Rupert has been dealing with this issue for some time now, with the subject being brought to city councilors in 2007 after a local group performed a clean up around the area, which couldn’t even be noticed shortly after due to more abandoned trash.

Years later, it seems like little has changed.

According to Horne, the city does a clean up of the road about three times a year, with a number of groups volunteering to perform clean ups as well.

The city has also put in seven “no dumping” signs on the stretch of road, however individuals seem to ignore the signage, evening in some cases taking it to the next level and pulling signs down, leaving three or less still in place.

Horne says the city is planning on replacing torn down signs up in the spring.

Although undoubtedly some sort of patrolling system would decrease the amount of garbage abandoned, Horne pointed out a flaw.

“[Wantage Road] is very difficult to monitor because most of the people do the dumping after hours.” He explained.

“I’m hoping that the citizens of Prince Rupert in the long term understand that garbage dumping is a real problem. If we want to keep our community clean, it’s everybody’s responsibility to make sure the people who are dumping get reported.” Said Horne.

Anyone who witnesses people discarding of their unwanted garbage out at Wantage Road, or anywhere in the community, are encouraged to report it to city hall, and provide some piece of evidence of the fact, such as pictures, that could stand up in court against the accused.

Unfortunately, no one The Prince Rupert Northern View talked to about this subject at city hall knew the cost of illegal garbage dumping fines as of press time.