'Smell is horrendous': Public housing residents fed up with garbage dumping
Government says it's monitoring problem areas
Residents at a public housing complex in Charlottetown say they're fed up with the garbage being dumped outside their building.
Months after speaking out about the issue, residents of the 36-unit building say the problem and the smell, just keep getting worse.
"The mess, as you can see behind me, continues. It gets worse every day and nothing is being done. Nothing," said resident Wendy Budgeon.
"There's way more bugs and maggots and smell, the smell is horrendous.… It just gets worse and worse every day."
Budgeon said non-residents have been dropping off garbage into the evening and early morning hours. Some of the things dumped include yard waste, sports equipment, bags of diapers, and flyers.
There's so much of it now, she said, that they can't even use their own bins.
"I'm not blaming the on-the-ground staff. I'm blaming the government," she said. "It's ridiculous."
Budgeon has a few ideas that might help stop the growing garbage problem. She said if the carts and bins were fenced in and locked that would stop some people from dumping.
She also recommended the province fix a camera to the building to watch the lot so they could capture licence plates and people walking about.
'Never seen it this bad'
Joan Axworthy has been living in the complex for the last three years and said she's "never seen it this bad."
It's become such a problem that she doesn't invite people to visit her because of the rancid smell of garbage.
"It's disgusting. I wouldn't invite anybody up here to come and visit me to look at that.… You wouldn't want someone to see that in your backyard."
She has trouble walking, but Axworthy said if it comes down to it she's prepared to move some of the trash herself.
In an emailed response, the province said "Housing services is aware there are some garbage concerns which predominantly happens in the Charlottetown area.
"This happens due to non-tenants dumping their garbage in bins, and also because some tenants are not sorting properly causing waste bins to fill up more quickly."
Housing staff does inspections the day after garbage pickup, the province said, to ensure "cleanup occurs in a timely manner if needed."
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With files from Steve Bruce