Saint John recycling depot overrun by illegal dumping

Lansdowne Plaza in Saint John's north end has become overrun by garbage and inappropriate items.

Lansdowne Plaza is the only depot that residents in the city's north end have to take their plastics, cardboard and paper.

The problem is people are leaving more than just recyclable materials at the site 

Residents said items such as paint cans, cat litter and diapers can be often found at the recycling depot.

But Stephane Thibodeau, a recycling truck driver, said he even found a dead cat dumped into a blue bin. 

"It could be education [on bin use], but a lot of people just don't care," said Thibodeau.

"If nobody sees them, they get away with it and they drive away and it's out of sight, out of mind."

William Lindsay, a local resident, said he doesn't mind the recycling program, but that people should be held accountable for illegal dumping. 

"It says right on [the bins] what to put in them," said Lindsay.

"They could put a camera there. They would catch who's doing the wrong thing."

A common complaint is that the bins across the city are sometimes over-packed, making proper disposal difficult.

"The big challenge for us is illegal dumping," said Marc MacLeod, the manager of Fundy Region Solid Waste.

"We have a truck dedicated to just cleaning those bins every day of the week and it routinely brings in anywhere from half to a full ton of material every day of people discarding stuff."

MacLeod added the overflow puts the recycling depots at risk, especially since the commission doesn't own the property the blue bins are located on.

"If we didn't clean them, people would boot us off their sites," he said.