This pile of illegally dumped tires was found on Lac Le Jeune road in the City of Kamloops on Aug. 11.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/ Rob Bertrand

An increasing amount of trash is piling up in ditches and dump sites off dirt roads in Kamloops and the Okanagan, and while some people with trucks are volunteering their time to pick it up and dispose of it properly, others keep on dumping it.

“I would say I’m seeing more illegal dumping over the years,” said longtime Kamloops resident Rob Bertrand. “The overall upkeep of things in the city has gone downhill, where people are not caring as much about their community.”

It might be a safe assumption that the dumper doesn’t want to pay the dump fee, but last week Bertrand picked up a pile of used tires dumped on Lac Le Jeune Road within the city limits. He brought them back to his work place at Notre Dame Tire to dispose of them.

“Tires are free to dispose of at any tire shop, customers show up and dump theirs,” Bertrand said. “If they are good, donate them, if they are bad, take them to a shop. Even the dump will take them for free if they’re not mounted on wheels.”

Bertrand said he takes his kids for drives in the backcountry where he sees dumped household trash, beds and broken furniture. The illegal dumping also happens regularly in public city spaces.

Last month he picked up a pile of tires dumped in a park beside a donation bin.

“It was in a busy parking lot with kids playing all around it, like c’mon,” he said. “It’s part of your responsibility to take care of your surroundings.”

When people post about dumped tires on social media, Bertrand drives out to pick them up.

The City of Kamloops has an Adopt-a-Road/ Adopt-a-Trail program that helps organize volunteers to keep roadsides and nature trails clean.

Residents can sign up to clean a road and bag up trash for the City to dispose of. 

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Special interest groups can clean up trash and apply to the City through writing to get a landfill tipping waiver to get the cost covered.

Similarly, tipping fees at landfills in the Okanagan are waived for community cleanup efforts, according to a release by the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen on May 25. 

The district said illegal dumping causes numerous problems including health, safety, environment, and economic threats like increased wildfire risk.

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This move to waive landfill fees was spurred by groups like the Okanagan Forest Task Force, a non-profit volunteer group dedicated to cleaning up trash in the backcountry.

Community groups who want to organize clean-up efforts at illegal dumping sites can contact the district’s waste department in advance to get landfill tipping fees waived for their clean-ups.

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While waiving fees can help, it doesn’t remove the fact people are dumping garbage where it doesn’t belong.

“The concept of driving down the road for 15 minutes and dumping all of your garbage, I just can’t understand it,” Bertrand said.

He is hoping when residents see someone illegally dumping they will get the license plate and report it to city bylaw services.

It's illegal to dump litter outside of disposal facilities in the province and a person caught in the act by authorities is subject to hefty fines up to $2,000.

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