Calgary man out $700 after construction debris dumped on his property

A Calgary man has found out the hard way exactly who's on the hook when it comes to illegal dumping on private property.

In May, someone left their construction debris on Ramesh Parajuli's property in the northeast community of Cityscape.

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"There was a huge pile of home siding, vinyl, all dumped on my backyard property," he said.

Parajuli called the city, but was told the garbage is actually his problem.

"They say they can't pick it up because it's on private property and I have to be responsible to clean up all those things," he said.

Parajuli paid $700 to rent a dumpster and cleaned up the mess himself.

But buried in the debris he found paperwork that could link a contractor to the offence. A city investigator has been assigned to the case, said Kevin Leitch with Calgary Community Standards.

"My understanding is that there might be some information that might lead us to who's responsible," he said.

Whoever dumped the materials face a $250 fine under the Waste and Recycling Bylaw or charges under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act.

"It's a perennial problem. I can't say that it's on the rise, but the problem continues in all parts of the city from time to time," Leitch said.

"Someone doing this to save money from a tipping charge up at the dump is quite unusual, and very planned and deliberate on someone's part. And they will have done it more than once."

Parajuli says he will try to recover his costs if the culprit is found.

"We should discourage illegal dumpers. So, definitely the city should raise the amount of [the fine]," he said.

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