Highway 101 garbage disgusts Ellershouse couple

An Ellershouse, N.S. couple is dismayed by the amount of trash they've been collecting along a local stretch of Highway 101.

Michael and Connnie Davison spent their long weekend cleaning up after finding a pile of illegally dumped garbage around Exit 4 on the highway.

Since they started on Saturday, they've collected more than 689 kilograms of garbage.

Everything from old microwaves and televisions, to the kind of garbage that just collects in the car.

On Monday, they were near St. Croix and overwhelmed by the stench.

"Oh dear, it's dirty diapers," Connie Davison said.

The Davisons and a few of their neighbours have been cleaning up these illegal dumps and trucking it — at their own expense — to the local landfill.

"It's back-breaking work. This is the worst. The reward is to come by here and see the neighbourhood clean," Connie said. 

West Hants Warden Richard Dauphinee says his theory is that people are offering their clean-up services to homeowners who want to get rid of junk, and then illegally dumping it.

"Then I could drive out on a by road like this and throw it all off and wouldn't have to pay the tipping fee.  Clear profit."

The Davisons are asking the province to hire crews to do what they've been doing for free all weekend.