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The Brampton Guardian
Peel wants to get tough on garbage pickers
Thursday October 16 2008
Peel Region wants to crack down on the scavengers that sift through your trash every week.
And no, officials aren’t referring to animals raiding garbage cans at night.

At Thursday’s waste management subcommittee meeting, councillors addressed the idea of increasing the penalties for people who scavenge for scrap metal and household appliances in residential trash.

Dave Gordon, Peel’s acting director of waste management, said the high return for scrap metal and other items has resulted in more incidents of “scavenging” across Peel.

The practice of rummaging through a stranger’s trash has increased dramatically since 2005, Gordon said. “Scavenging happens periodically, and it really is linked to the market prices of the material. Right now, we are seeing scrap metal at an all time record high,” Gordon said. “The commercial scavenging of the scrap metal appliances is really the larger concern, the larger financial impact.”

That financial impact translates into $70,000 in lost revenue a year for the region.
The job of picking up large commercial items is contracted out to a company.
People book an appointment to have their old washing machine or dishwasher pick up and pay a fee.

But far too often, Gordon said a crew will show up and find the items already gone.

“Fifty-five per cent of the units that are booked are not at the curb by the time we collect them,” Gordon told waste subcommittee members. “Because of this it has impacts on our collection contracts. (The trucks) still have to drive the streets so we’ve had to consider amendments to the urban white goods collection contract with respect to the frequency of collection or how many times we are going to run the trucks.”    

Gordon also addressed the environmental implications of people hauling away appliances for scrap metal.

He said the curbside collection of refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners end up at specific sites where trained personnel safely remove hazardous materials like chlorofluorocarbons. 

When it comes to decommissioning old appliances, Peel follows some pretty stringent policies and procedures for health, safety and environmental protocols.

Gordon argued there is no guarantee scavengers follow these same procedures or are even aware.

With respect to a solution, Gordon suggested Peel adopt some measures to deter people from scavenging, perhaps by scheduling curbside pickup of old household appliances in the evening when more people are at home, or in the form of higher fines.

Currently, the region has a bylaw against scavenging that boasts a monetary fine of $300— not enough to discourage the practice.

Scavenging can be seen as a problem, but councillors acknowledged there may not be much the municipality can do about it.

Beefing up bylaw enforcement isn’t an ideal option as the cost to do so would eclipse the $70,000 in lost revenue.

Mississauga councillor Pat Mullin argued scavenging just isn’t something most residents are concerned about.
“They are just happy that it’s picked up and gone,” Mullin charged.

John Sanderson, regional councillors for Brampton wards 3 and 4, suggested the region approach Ontario’s Ministry of Environment for assistance.

He argued the province can perform spot checks on scrap yards for instance to keep tabs on where these items are ending up.