Residents asking city for help as garbage piles up in Regina's North Central neighbourhood

Erinn Paik says she has watched Regina's North Central neighborhood become littered with garbage since moving her family to the area one year ago.

"This is absolutely normal in North Central," she said. "It's just a nuisance and no one is doing anything to make it better."

The trash is mainly found in back alleys. Garbage and recycling bins tend to overflow and spill out into the streets, and despite the biweekly garbage pickup, most of the litter still remains on the ground afterwards, she said. 

Paik said the problem has become too familiar in the area and that residents who have been complaining to the city about the issue for years feel like they're being ignored. 

"They're tired. They're tired of trying to advocate. They're tired of trying to ask for help. And I don't blame them, because after only a year, I'm tired," she said.  

Paik said the community has had to fix the issue itself with annual cleanups.

Residents say the buildup of garbage shows how communities like North Central are marginalized in Regina.

Ward 3 Coun. Andrew Stevens said is demonstrated by people from elsewhere coming to North Central to dump garbage.

"It's a case of people from other communities thinking they can take their garbage and dump it in these inner city neighbourhoods, which I find particularly offensive," he said. 

Paik echoed this statement. She recalled a time a mattress ended up in the yard of a neighbouring house that's been vacant for years. After calling the city multiple times to get it picked up, she had to take matters into her own hands. 

"I picked up the mattress and I threw it in the middle of the street and it was picked up the same day. But that's what we have to do in order to get it addressed," she said.

Leah O'Malley, who has lived in the neighborhood for 14 years, said the homelessness crisis has also contributed to the problem. 

"When you have populations that are more unhoused or have higher poverty rates, you can have more issues with garbage," she said. "When you are experiencing a huge stress in your life, it's really hard to manage things like the garbage properly." 

The City of Regina said it responds to 500 to 600 cases of illegal dumping per year and has made efforts to prevent these numbers from increasing.