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Ladysmith small business impacted by illegal dumping

One man’s trash is not always another man’s treasure and for the owner of Red’s Emporium the illegal dumping of several large items has taken a hit on his wallet.
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Mike Gregory Photo Red’s Emporium owner Rick Morencie stands next to garbage that was dumped illegally behind his business.

One man’s trash is not always another man’s treasure and for the owner of Red’s Emporium the illegal dumping of several large items has taken a hit on his wallet.

It all started in March when small business owner Rick Morencie started seeing household furniture such as couches, dirty mattresses, loves seats, and other objects such bicycles and bags of garbage left beside the dumpsters outback of his High Street store.

“We’ve had the odd thing here or there but it just started to get overwhelming,” Morencie said.

The inconvenience has cost him a couple hundred dollars, not to mention the time to dispose of the items and possible health risk if any of it is infested with rats or bed bugs.

“This stuff is not free plus time, gas and everything else,” he said, estimating it’s about an hour or so each time he’s had to load up the garbage and take it to the proper disposal site.

The Cowichan Valley Regional District charges $15 per couch and $10 a mattress at it landfill facilities.

While there’s no way to know who’s been leaving the garbage, Red’s Emporium is surrounded by rental units backing onto the alleyway.

It’s also private enough for anyone looking to illegally dispose of garbage or furniture.

The dumpsters themselves are primarily used by the Legion, where Morencie sits on the executive.

He said having the bins nearby is his way of helping out.

“They’re a non-profitable organization that do all sorts of things for the town and they have no other place to put them really,” he said. “It’s the tenants within the city that are abusing the system. I don’t know what we can do about it…the only thing everyone suggests is install cameras.”

Increased security again costs more money as would the other option he’s considered which is fencing off the area entirely.

Morencie is not alone and according to the town there are several areas in Ladysmith where ‘no dumping’ signs have been erected because they are problem hot spots.

Bylaw enforcement officers also monitor the areas for suspicious activity, said director of infrastructure Geoff Goodall.

“We have some problem areas in town that people continually dump stuff in,” he said. “Most of the material that we’re picking up is at the end of dead end roads.”

The Ladysmith Sportsmen’s Club sixth annual watershed cleanup in April hauled 11 tons of trash of the woods.

However, because the garbage behind Red’s Emporium is on private property it’s become Morencie’s problem alone to handle.

Ladysmith RCMP told the Chronicle that they could lay a public mischief charge on anyone caught dumping garbage within the town’s limits.

Morencie said he’s not convinced that’s not the best use of police resources and would rather people just take responsibility for their own trash.

“Over garbage? Are they going to press charges over garbage like a couch?,” he said. “I’m just trying to get it to stop.”





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