One of Alberta’s greatest Samaritans is a man who goes by the online alias “One Ditch at a Time.”
asserted
who → go → Time
He scours the countryside for illegally dumped garbage along roadsides and fencelines, documents it, names and shames whenever possible (and it’s often possible, based on how much mail gets tossed), and prepares the trash for pickup or takes it away himself.
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mail → scour → it
But, as satisfying as his fight against dumping is, one can’t help but feel disappointed at just how steep this uphill battle is across Canada.
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battle → help → Canada
This is a growing problem everywhere, and the authorities have little to say about it beyond the municipal level.
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authorities → grow → level
During a news conference last Tuesday with Premier Danielle Smith, a reporter asked whether the province was considering whether to crack down on illegal dumping — perhaps by assembling a team of officers to track down perpetrators and getting them to pay for the cleanup.
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them → ask → cleanup
Smith gave an encouraging reply: “We need to do something in the fall,” she said.
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she → give → fall
Consultations, Smith added, were currently open.
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Smith → add → ?
“Maybe that is too high a penalty, but, you know, I was a kid who grew up in the ’70s when we had a do-not-litter campaign, and I still, if I’m on a walk and see litter, will pick it up and put it in the garbage can.”
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I → know → can
She also said that she was open to running a new public awareness campaign against littering.
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she → say → littering
My personal feedback is that we need to go a lot further.
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we → need → ?
The possibility of a $10,000 fine is not enough to deter dumpers — that’s plain enough from places where that’s already the ceiling.
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that → deter → places
It was just in August that a woman caught a group of men in a work truck depositing wood chip waste onto her family’s land in Rocky View County, the region that encircles much of Calgary.
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that → catch → Calgary
There, municipal bylaws cap dumping fines at $10,000.
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bylaws → cap → 10,000
When a local journalist asked the county about what happened, a spokesperson said she couldn’t comment on individual cases.
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she → ask → cases
And there’s another problem that must be fixed under any provincial law on illegally dumping trash: anonymity.
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that → ’ → trash
Allegations against individuals and companies need to be public.
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Allegations → need → individuals
If I’m looking to hire a disposal company, or a landscaping company, or something else that can save time and money by dumping garbage where our food is grown, I should be able to properly inform my choice.
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I → look → choice
The public interest in stopping trash dumpers is immense.
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interest → stop → dumpers
One of the great principles of the West is that there is an inherent dignity to green spaces that should be respected; another, of course, is private property.
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another → be → course
People who empty their garbage alongside what are usually rural roads are violating usually one, and often both.
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what → empty → one
It harms wildlife; it pollutes waterways and groundwater if there’s enough of it; it can cost landowners thousands to clean up.
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it → harm → thousands
The more normalized this is, the more backwards Canada will become.
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Canada → become → ?
No amount of plastic-straw bans can make up for that.
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amount → make → that
The damage of letting litterbugs run wild is quantifiable, and the results are damning.
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results → let → ?
In just Rocky View County, illegal dumping costs an annual $500,000 per year, and the problem is ramping up to such a degree that it’s expected to cost $1,000,000 in 2030.
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it → cost → 2030
It’s a similar story across Canada.
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It → ’ → Canada
In 2023, dumping in Montreal nearly doubled from seven years prior (16,306 complaints to 28,441).
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dumping → double → 28,441
In Vancouver, where the maximum fine is also $10,000, there were about 22,000 reports in 2024, similar to what it was in 2018 — not good enough, seeing how much of a reputation the area has for trash.
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area → be → trash
In Mississauga, where the maximum fine is a refreshing $100,000, there were 580 reports last year.
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fine → be → Mississauga
Between 2015 and 2017, there were roughly 500 reports — which means the problem has roughly doubled in scale.
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problem → be → scale
And it’s not just municipalities — dumping in Markham’s Rouge National Urban Park hit record highs in 2024.
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dumping → ’ → 2024
The trouble with dumping is that it’s so easy for it to go unpunished — that’s why those who do it target rural areas in particular.
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who → ’ → areas
Farmers can’t monitor their land 100 per cent of the time, nor can locals patrol their range roads constantly, so this is what happens.
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what → monitor → roads
The dumpers avoid paying drop-off fees, so they save a bit of cash in the process.
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they → avoid → process
They may even be saving money, if the cost of being caught once is worth less than however many trips they avoided taking to the dump.
uncertain
they → save → dump
Fines should be high enough to take a good bite into the cash flow of whoever is involved.
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whoever → take → flow
They should be painful enough that, if the perpetrator is from abroad, they’ll write home and complain about how harshly Canada handles the wrongful disposal of trash.
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Canada → write → trash
They should reflect this country’s actual abhorrence for treating nature and farmland like a dump.
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They → reflect → dump
We should be talking about minimum corporate fines in the thousands, capped in the six or seven figures.
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We → talk → figures
When oil companies leak gas into the environment, they can be fined into the hundreds of thousands, and that’s widely accepted as an appropriate punishment.
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that → leak → punishment
…and 6 more, not listed.
