Illegal dump sites spotted in Whitecourt and Woodlands County thanks to a local pilot

 

From the air, Whitecourt and Woodlands County are a beauty to behold. If you are lucky enough to fly over the region right now you would see bright rich greens and the awe-inspiring rivers twisting and turning their way through the dense forest. You would also, unfortunately, see piles of rubbish that have been popping up as of late.

A little over two weeks ago, pilot Jonas Boll, Pipistrel Aircraft Canada Inc., had just taken off from the Whitecourt Airport when he spotted something on the ground just beyond the runway. There, amongst the trees, was a large pile of what looked to be garbage. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that that was exactly what it was.

An oven, mattress, multiple couches, miscellaneous household items including shoes, grocery boxes, and personal products were strewn along the side of a dirt road just off Highway 32 before the airport. On one side of the public road you can see the vast valley, picturesque and peaceful, but when you turn around the view suddenly goes from beautiful to downright disgusting.

“I do lots of flying around the area because I enjoy it. It’s a beautiful area to fly in and sightsee, and this junk sticks out like a sore thumb from the air. I spotted it right away and I mentioned it to my councillor, John Burrows of Ward 2 Whitecourt-West, that there’s an issue that he needs to know about.”

After spotting one location of illegal dumping, Boll decided to look around the area and see what else he could find. “There are two other spots by the Water Treatment Plant, one by Highway 32, and one by Athabasca River that was unearthed due to the recent flood. It’s completely unacceptable. You can spot it from a mile up.” Some of the dump sites are quite large.

After seeing the messes firsthand, both on the ground and in his own plane as he also flies, Woodlands County Councillor (Whitecourt-West), John Burrows decided to reach out to the public and let everyone know what’s going on. “There’s never going to be a magic bullet on this issue as you’re always going to find people who will be lazy and just throw things in the ditch and dump it, but the amount of times this is occurring now seems to be increasing quite a bit so, because of that, I think this is something we need to get out in front of and quickly.”

Councillor Burrows is asking both county residents of all wards and Whitecourt residents to reach out to their councillors about any issues they find with either illegal dumping or their own issues with the current workings of the landfill site. He understands that having fees for garbage dumping could become a problem. “Good people sometimes get put in bad spots because of financial reasons and we have not yet recovered from one of the worst recessions in Alberta since the 80s. I feel for people who are having trouble making ends meet and then are being charged big fees from just trying to be a responsible citizen.”

Residents are asked to contact the Woodlands County office during business hours if they would like to help in the clean up efforts. Councillor Burrows would also like to see residents keep a close eye on areas that are known dump sites and to report any suspicious activity to RCMP. “We need to hear the input from residents on this and we need to work together to come up with a solution.”