Complaints regarding illegal dumping on municipal property, through 311, have steadily increased over the last 4 years. From 2015 to 2018 there has been a 29% increase in these types of calls. It would stand to reason that the same increase, although not recorded by 311, has likely occurred in illegal dumping on non-municipal property. Illegal dumping has long been a concern in most large municipalities, and a variety of methods for dealing with this issue have been implemented across Canada and the U.S. with varying levels of success. According to a study by Eunomia Research & Consulting Inc, in 2018 for the City of Sacramento, California, overwhelming evidence suggests using a PACE model for best results for a community-wide strategy.

The PACE strategy consists of:

•  Prevention: achieve through extensive education. The City of Windsor currently provides education through its website, the Collection Calendar, 311 and the Recycle Coach App.
•  Abatement: achieved through accessible programs. The City of Windsor currently offers the curbside bulk collection, and the Public Drop Off Depot.
•  Clean up: swift clean up of illegally dumped material avoids attracting more material. The City of Windsor currently responds to notification of illegally dumped material on municipal property within 48 hours of becoming aware. Dumping on private property is the responsibility of the property owner.
•  Enforcement: achieved through consistent enforcement of bylaws. The City of Windsor currently has 4 surveillance cameras. Bylaw Enforcement Officers respond to complaints in the order in which they are received therefore response times vary depending on the number of complaints. Furthermore, if there is no video evidence of the dumping, then the homeowner is responsible to remove the items and has no opportunity to recover costs from the perpetrator.

As noted above, the City supports the PACE strategy and has processes in place to help in mitigating illegal dumping. To further support the PACE model, Council may consider the following actions.

1. Implement satellite depots

There is currently one public drop off depot in the City of Windsor, located at 3540 North Service Rd East. Although the hours are convenient and the tipping fees reasonable, there are often long line-ups to use this facility, which may lead some customers to consider illegal dumping.

A second satellite depot located towards the west end of the City of Windsor would give customers another option for discarding their waste legally, and conveniently. This option would support the Abatement portion of the PACE model. It is suggested that, should this option be considered that the depot only accept garbage and metal items, and that