Arthur Davies, owner of Emmerdale Eden Farm, recently noticed the mess, though he’s unsure if it was dumped there this spring or last fall. Most of it is about half a kilometre down the Emery Road.
It’s an awful sight, he said during a recent revisiting.
“I don’t like to see it on anyone’s property. It’s just the wrong thing to do,” said Davies, who owns the land on one side of the road from the mess.
He and his family have lived on the farm adjacent to the road for about 13 years. They’re no stranger to seeing the occasional piece of trash being tossed out of cars and occasionally there will be a larger bag, but this particular mess is the biggest they’ve noticed.
Emery Road leads to Linkletter Provincial Park so it can be quite busy in the summer with tourists and locals.
The thought of visitors, let alone locals, encountering such a mess is quite disheartening, said Davies.
“We have a beautiful Island; it’s so pretty. Tourists come, and they come because of the views. They love these dirt roads and they drive down there – and just look what they’re finding.”
Unfortunately, Davies is far from alone on P.E.I. when it comes to dealing with illegal dumping.
Conservation officer, Trevor MacKinnon, said he and his colleagues will deal with dozens of such complaints every year.
They try to investigate each one, usually by taking a look through the trash to recover items with identifying information on them. Fines range from $250 for individuals and more than $1,000 for businesses.
If the trash’s owner can’t be found and made to clean up their mess, then it’s up to whomever owns the land to do it, whether that be the province, a business or a private landowner.
Now that MacKinnon’s department is aware there is a mess on Emery Road, a conservation officer will be visiting shortly to check out the situation. If they deem the mess to be the province’s responsibility (it’s a public road) then a Department of Transportation crew will be assigned to clean it up.
Davies is hopeful whoever is responsible will be forced to clean it up.
“I would love to be able to get their name and address and dump it on their lawn.
