'Stop dumping your crap'

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Autobins are collected and crushed for scrap at Orloff Metal Ltd. Below, autobins in lanes between Redwood and Aberdeen avenues fill with trash. (PHOTOS BY JOE BRYKSA/ WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

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JOE BRYKSA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS

A Winnipeg city councillor says contractors must stop "dumping their crap" in the North End as the area struggles to deal with a deluge of trash spilling out of autobins.

Mynarski Coun. Ross Eadie said there has recently been a rise in illegal dumping of construction material in his North End ward and in Point Douglas.

This comes as the city replaces 5,800 autobins with automated garbage and recycling carts as part of its move to a new waste collection system. The changeover has sparked an unexpected rush to fill the bins with heaps of bulky, unwanted trash.

Eadie said the offending contractors aren't area residents. They are trekking to neighbourhoods served by autobins to discard concrete and renovation waste before the city removes the bins. That adds considerably to the mess from residents who are also rushing to rid their homes and garages of unwanted items before the change occurs.

Eadie said the city should slap the illegal dumpers with hefty fines, but it's difficult for Winnipeg's limited bylaw staff to catch dumpers in the act.

BFI has the contract to empty autobins, and city officials admit crews have been unable to keep up with the amount of garbage, which has nearly doubled in recent weeks. Half of BFI's trucks are not operating due to maintenance issues, and there's so much excess rubbish it has taken three times longer to collect trash, putting collection almost a week behind schedule.

That has forced many North End residents to hold their noses as their back-lane autobins overflow with rotten trash and everything from couches and mattresses to old furniture and plywood. "Don't disrespect the North End. It's just not right," Eadie said, noting contractors have even started to dump renovation material on vacant lots. "Stop dumping your crap in our neighbourhood."

Bill, a Redwood Avenue resident who did not wish to give his last name, said he returned from vacation Saturday to find garbage littering his back lane. "I don't remember these bins being like that," he said.

Lourdes, a Boyd Avenue resident who also requested her last name not be used, said she has complained to the city about the mess in her back lane. But she's also worried about the new bins, guessing they will be difficult to remove in the wintertime.

Winnipeg's solid-waste manager, Darryl Drohomerski, said the city did not see an increase in illegal dumping last fall when autobins were replaced with the new garbage and recycling carts during a pilot project in the Dufferin neighbourhood.

He said the bins have been a magnet for illegal dumping since they were first rolled out in 1992 and continue to attract people looking for a quick way to ditch bulky items and avoid paying the fees to take it to the Brady Road Landfill.

Drohomerski said the department has spoken with bylaw enforcement officials to see if more action could be taken in autobin areas to stop illegal dumpers.

He said crews are working to remove the remaining 4,000 autobins over the next few weeks.

Public works chairman Coun. Dan Vandal called the situation "unfortunate." He said the city will pick up any abandoned garbage and clean the back lanes. He said there is a small segment of the population who will manipulate the system for their own benefit and do not have the community's best interests at heart.

"Should we have seen it coming? That's hard to say," Vandal said. "I know one of the reasons we're getting rid of the autobins is they tend to attract way too much garbage."

-- with files by Kristy Hoffman

jen.skerritt@freepress.mb.ca

Trashing autobins

THE last of the autobins won't be gone for a few weeks, but starting today Winnipeg begins collecting garbage and recycling with new automated carts for 24,000 homes in the city's northwest.

Residents will switch to the new collection service two months earlier than all other parts of the city. The rest of Winnipeg won't start to use the new garbage and recycling carts until Oct. 1.

The new carts are expected to reduce the amount of material sent to the landfill by more than 50 per cent.

-- staff

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 1, 2012 B1