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Landfill trespassing a problem

While taking discarded trash might seem like a victimless crime, Moore pointed out that some of the scavengers have resorted to driving through farmland that neighbours the landfill to get access to the site and flattening freshly-planted crops.
The Westlock Regional Landfill continues to deal with a trespassing problem, with up to three incidents reported weekly.
The Westlock Regional Landfill continues to deal with a trespassing problem, with up to three incidents reported weekly.

While taking discarded trash might seem like a victimless crime, Moore pointed out that some of the scavengers have resorted to driving through farmland that neighbours the landfill to get access to the site and flattening freshly-planted crops.

“We’ll come and there’ll be tires scattered everywhere because they sorted through the tires and left a big mess,” he said.

“We have electronic bins, which is a revenue source for us. They’ll go through them and ransack them, take electronics out of there and leave a big mess. They’ll steal car batteries we receive for proper disposal.”

Moore said very little of what is being taken is of much cash value, though a few expensive items have been stolen like a generator and a radio in recent months. Not without irony, the “No Trespassing” signs were also stolen.

“We’ve put more signs up so we’ll see how long those last,” he said.

The seemingly endless number of break-ins has forced the landfill to change the way it collects items.

“We had recycle chutes where people could drop recycles in without coming into the building,” he said. “We actually had to block those off because they kept breaking in through those.”

“Last time they broke in they vandalized the bathroom and left feces all over the place.”

Moore noted that his biggest cost is in repairs and man-hours, which ultimately gets passed on to the ratepayers. He estimated it was costing him $250-300 weekly in labour to clean up after the thieves, in addition to the fence repairs which he pegged at $1,000. With a staff of three, cleaning up after the trespassers is cutting into the facility’s productivity.

“Sometimes they’ll break into one of our outbuildings and we’ll have to do some repairs there,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll break into a piece of equipment and take out a radio or whatever. Once in awhile they might steal fuel and contaminate our fuel tanks.”

With few tools to dissuade the scavengers, Moore said he expected the problem to continue. He noted that the low fines for trespassing made the cost of filing a report with police not worthwhile.

“It’s usually the same handful of people, no matter what we do,” he said. “We caught another guy the other day. One of my staff caught him packing stuff off the fence. But they just want to prosecute on trespassing and not theft. I can understand the courts are busy, but it’s frustrating.”

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