Canmore Gets Cheeky With New Signs to Combat Illegal Dumping

Canmore has spent years telling residents how to get rid of bulky items for free. Now it’s telling those who leave them beside garbage bins: “Don’t be a tosser.”

The Town spent $98 on two bright pink signs for bins near the high school and on Moraine Road, both persistent dumping spots.

The signs list mock reasons for leaving items beside the bins, including “I’m a jerk,” “I’m lazy” and “My parents still clean up after me.”

Communications advisor Nicky Pacas said the wording is meant to grab attention after stickers, social media campaigns, ads, newsletters and media releases promoting large-item pickup failed to change the behaviour.

“These signs are saying the same thing we’ve been saying for years, but we’re saying it more directly,” she said. “We’re putting the responsibility of that behaviour onto the people who leave their items outside of the bins.”

Pacas said someone leaves a new large item beside a residential bin somewhere in Canmore every day. The Town’s Solid Waste Services team doesn’t track those incidents.

It’s too early to tell whether the signs are making a difference, Pacas said. They can be moved to other problem sites as needed.

Mayor Sean Krausert said at the Oct. 20 committee of the whole meeting that bins near his home had been a recurring dumping site, but he hadn’t seen anything left there in more than a week.

“So far, it’s working,” he said.

His observation concerns one location; the Town has not measured an overall change in dumping.

The items include still-usable furniture and boxes of office supplies, Pacas said. Leaving items outside the bins is illegal, regardless of the reason.

Dumped items can block access to the bins, delay garbage collection and put collection operators at risk, she said.

The Town offers residents free large-item pickup from their homes.

“It’s far less work for someone to book large item pickup than it is to transport large items to the residential waste bins,” Pacas said.

Requests go through the online form at canmore.ca/largeitem.