Illegal dumping continues to be a problem in Ottawa

Ottawa businesses are already dealing with a chronic trash problem, as the city gets ready to limit the amount of garbage residents can put on the curb.

Residents are bringing their garbage to large commercial bins and they’re constantly overflowing and now business owners are paying to get it hauled away.

At a number of dumpsters at a Barrhaven shopping plaza, there are household items on the ground. That includes a barbecue, chairs and even furniture that was all illegally dumped.

“They are dumping everything and anything,” said Kathryn Gough, who works in the plaza. “There’s mornings that we come out and it looks like a complete garage sale. There are chairs. There are toys. There are clothes. People don’t even bother to put it into the dumpster. They just lay it all around the ground,” she said.

Local businesses in the plaza use the dumpster and pay for the service. Now they’re worried that illegal dumping will get worse when the city begins limiting homes to three garbage bins every two weeks in June. Gough says she’s even caught people in the act.

“It’s frustrating. There’s just no regard. They don’t seem to understand that that cost is taken to the small business owner. They just want to get rid of their garbage at our expense and it isn’t fair,” said Gough.

It’s also a problem at an Orleans Plaza on 10th line where locks were installed in an effort to curb the issue.

“They lock them up, but the issue is that people just dump their stuff on the ground," said Ashley Mathieu, a small business owner.

“There’s barbecues, just bags full of stuff and furniture," Mathieu said.

The fine for illegal dumping is at least five hundred dollars. It could also include charges.

In a statement to CTV News, the City of Ottawa said in part “By-law and Regulatory Services investigates reports of illegal dumping, which includes, but is not limited to, gathering witness statements and any other information from various sources that may provide evidence of the activity and its perpetrator.”

Meanwhile, Mathieu says the city should do more to educate residents on why it’s against the law.

"We pay thousands of dollars annually for our garbage removal so just adding one more service a week or a month; it does add up," said Mathieu.