‘Illegal dumping in the woods on the rise:’ task force

A group that works to keep the forests clean is raising alarm bells about a growing mess in the woods.

The Okanagan Forest Task Force has been finding many new dump sites along Okanagan backcountry roads.

Kane Blake of the task force says “illegal dumping is on the rise at the moment and growing fast.”

The task force’s goal is to keep the forests clean and to raise public awareness to the issue of illegal dumping and it’s impact on forested areas.

Blake attributes some of the new dump sites to people hiring non reputable haulers during their spring cleaning. Another possibility is because of Covid-19 many more people are home doing more cleaning and the line ups the landfill are far longer then they usually are this time of year.

“We have been doing more yard work recently and spent about 35 minutes in the line up just last week.” Blake said.”A simple Facebook search shows lots of people looking to hire people for Dump Runs but the real question is how much of it is actually making it to the landfill.”

Blake advises people who plan to hire someone to take their stuff to the landfill to keep the names and conversations as well as proof of payment. This way if your information is found in a dump site you can possibly help to prove who dumped it.

“We need to start holding people accountable and not let them think this is OK to do,” Blake added.

The group is hoping to get back to clean ups even if they are just small ones

“I just hate to see our beautiful forests turning into landfills from ignorant people being too lazy to go to the landfill,” Blake commented.

Blake and a couple members of the task force will continue to travel the back roads and document all the spots they find.

Photos of recent trips along backroads can be found on the group’s web site and Facebook group.