To the man with the garbage: you are a pig

Published in The Kamloops Daily News, Saturday, April 18, 2009

“Hey, Mel,” my neighbour Bob said when I answered the phone. “On your way home tonight, stop at the Jameson Creek turnoff and take a look. You wouldn’t believe it.”

Bob is the unofficial mayor of Black Pines. He loves talking politics and issues, and has strong opinions when it comes to protecting the good of the community.

At the north side of the Jameson Creek bridge, there’s a short road that loops off Westsyde Road, runs the length of a couple of blocks, then connects back on to Westysde. You’ll often see cars parked there, especially during the summer. People leave their vehicles and hike east through the dense forest along the creek to a pretty little spot where the North Thompson River runs through a gorge. Nice for picnicking and camping, and people keep it pretty clean.

It’s not an official campground. As far as I know, the trail is on private property but there are no fences to keep the public out. People seem to get the fact that they’re there by permission, and are respectful of the area.

Well, not everybody. Following Bob’s directive, on my way home I pulled in for a look, and saw what he was talking about. Someone, likely wanting to avoid tipping fees, had decided this was a good spot to deposit a pickup load of junk and garbage.

Whoever did it has been busy this spring cleaning up his yard, repairing his vehicles, and doing some renos on his house. He takes vitamins, owns a cat and a rabbit, has a young child, and has been considering hooking up to hi-speed Internet. He lives in town.

I know these things because he dumped the following: an old window (with broken glass scattered around), several garbage bags full of yard waste, scrap wood including part of an old fence, a broken patio umbrella, an empty oil container, a pile of auto parts including a broken tail light, old tiles, a partially used box of sanded brown tile grout, a couple of plastic plant pots, cardboard boxes, a vitamin bottle, an empty bag of Temptations cat treats, bonding mix, a cement bag, several work gloves, a baby snack wrapper, a rabbit-pellet bag, an empty transmission-fluid can, a salad bag, a hi-speed Internet brochure and assorted other waste.

Sir, this is what I think of you: you are a pig. You are worse than the crap with which you have defiled this beautiful space. You should be deeply ashamed.

Unfortunately, you are not one of a kind. All around our rural areas, people like you, with the same total disregard for our environment or for other people’s enjoyment of the outdoors, use our beautiful woods as garbage dumps.

How do I know you live in the city? If you were resident in the Black Pines area you would never have pulled such a lousy stunt. You wouldn’t crap in your own back yard, and you would know that the tipping fees aren’t yet enforced at the dumpster there.

Landfill fees are a major reason you and your ilk do what you do, and when the Thompson-Nicola Regional District gets its user fees for garbage disposal fully operational it’s going to get even worse. We’ll see a proliferation of piles of junk and garbage off our side roads, just for the sake of saving a few bucks.

Psychologists say there are several reasons people do this, aside from money. They say you have little or no knowledge of the environment effects of it, that you do it because there’s no one to tell you it’s not right, and that you have no sense of pride in your surroundings.

You are probably so selfish and narrow minded that you figure as long as it’s out of your own sight, it doesn’t matter what effect it has on others or on the environment. Or maybe you do understand all those things, and don’t give a damn. Or maybe you know that others won’t be able to simply leave your refuse where it lies, and will clean it up for you.

My family and I aren’t regular users of the Jameson Creek trail, but since I don’t intend to drive by your pile of disgusting waste day after day, I’ll be there Sunday morning tossing as much of it as I can into my truck and hauling it to the City landfill. Ironically, it’s a “free” day at the landfill, in aid of encouraging people to clean up for spring, so I’m sure the City won’t mind me returning what you left us.

You’re welcome to join me if you’d like.