A new program launching in Prince George may be a part of the solution to the city’s illegal dumping issue.
According to a report, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George will begin to take in old freezers, fridges and any other major appliances that contain “ozone-depleting substances” in January at no charge.
Illegal dumping has been an ongoing problem; besides the numerous volunteer-run cleanup groups, just last month a Prince George resident was forced to shut access to their property due to people offloading their trash on an almost daily basis.
“It’s bad because what we’re doing is taking out a lot of really great trails for people to use. We’re eliminating a lot of good recreational areas. We’ve got private landowners, and you can’t blame them, they’ve had enough. They’re putting out big cement barricades and people can’t go down into these areas that they’ve been traditionally able to go for decades,” said City Council Member Brian Skakun.
He said the move to take in appliances for free is “absolutely incredible,” and a step in the right direction. He also said he’s working on developing a comprehensive plan with different organizations to combat the issue.
One of those is Spruce City Wildlife Association, who have been organizing volunteer-run clean-up events for the past two years. They see the problem first hand.
“It’s a huge part of what we do, one of our last cleanups we pulled out three fridges and freezers alone,” said Steve Hamilton, president of the association.
He said in the last year they’ve probably cleaned up anywhere from 25-30 fridges or freezers from different cleanup sites.
“They can weigh a couple hundred pounds, so usually you’re looking at two or three people to get one safely loaded into the back of a trailer or a truck. It’s a difficult thing to move them out of the backcountry, but it needs to be done.”
MyPGNow has reached out to the District of Fraser-Fort George, but haven’t heard a response as of this publication.