Be Mother Nature's deputy

We’ve all seen it or heard about it: bags of garbage tossed in a ditch, a couch left on the side of the road, litter on a sidewalk, yard waste tipped over an embankment, an old car or camper abandoned in the bush.

That is illegal dumping, disposing of something where it does not belong.

You’re not alone if you disgusted by those recent images shared through social media and news coverage of some of these more severe illegal dump sites that sully our great outdoors.

What are these people thinking, or something less polite possibly crosses your mind.

The dump site discovered on the Peachland/West Kelowna border is likely the most notorious of late — literally hundreds of tires, construction debris, household garbage and more — all scattered in a wide swath of once untouched beauty.

But sadly, there are many other messes left behind in the bush and beyond. And when hikers, horseback riders, outdoor enthusiasts of any stripe stumble upon them, it’s always disheartening. Equally as bad, these messes are often dangerous, and costly to clean up.

When someone carelessly or deliberately dumps in the bush, instead of following the proper and often easy and low cost means of placing their belongings curbside, at a recycling depot, or simply taking it to a registered transfer station or landfill, the fallout is huge.

We’re talking about things like environmental damage, contaminated drinking water, harm to wildlife, escalated risk of fire, increased costs to taxpayers for cleanup efforts, and often even more dumping, as unfortunately garbage begets more garbage.

The argument that if landfills were free this would not happen, if the hours of such and such a facility were better, or more convenient, illegal dumping would not exist is, frankly, hogwash. 

The costs to do the right thing are often much lower than the tank of gas it takes to drive out to the bush and dump. And, it’s a slim slice of the population still searching for their moral compass that are behaving this way, but ohhhh the damage a select few can do in a few moments of bad decision. 

That’s the down side.

The up side?  

There are a great many people who do care, who are willing to roll up their sleeves, put in the elbow grease and help make a difference.

Perhaps you are one of them.  

Stopping illegal dumping is and always has been a community effort as we all work together to keep our recreational surroundings the way nature intended, clean, safe, beautiful.

Thanks to more recently formed volunteer outdoor enthusiast groups such as the Okanagan Forestry Task Force, and countless other volunteer and service groups as well as nature-loving individuals in our community, over the last few decades they have assisted with thousands of personal volunteer hours to help with some of the larger scale cleanups.

The more manageable ones are tackled by contractors and Conservation Officers working under extremely lean budgets.

Here’s what’s changing.

The perpetrators need to know that more and more eyes are on them than ever before, and the tolerance level for this kind of bad behaviour is lower than ever.

With the touch of finger, images are posted and shared on social media, making that single act of destruction oh so very public.

So there’s that to keep in mind: if you are being bad in the bush, eventually, someone will see, and likely publicly out you.

And here’s what to do if you do happen to spot illegal dumping of any form.

Report all incidents with as much detail as possible, licence plate if applicable, GPS coordinates, nature of dump site, type of material and photographs are great.

Do the reporting anonymously if you need to, but let someone know, that’s the only way to get the mess moved.

We make it easy for you to use our online reporting form.  Or call Regional Waste Reduction office at 250-469-6250 anytime, or email [email protected]

We’d like to thank all the amazing volunteers that give of their time to do clean ups and keep our forests clean and safe for all. You are Heroes.

Here’s to not needing so many Heroes in years to come. l hope one day people will just learn to do the right thing.

Period.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.