Garbage piling up in Regina’s North Central neighbourhood

Matthew Wesley has worked to clean up North Central for the last nine years – something he wishes didn’t need to be done.

Regina residents are searching for answers as garbage piles continue to grow in the North Central neighbourhood.

Matthew Wesley has worked to clean up North Central for the last nine years — something he wishes didn’t need to be done.

“Like 70 per cent of the North Central Community alleyways are filled with garbage,” Wesley explained. “It’s frustrating because even if there were 30 of me out here helping clean it up, it still wouldn’t make a difference.”

“There’s like needles and glass and diapers and rotten food and god knows what else in all of this,” Wesley said. “Nails sticking out of wood and old furniture like it’s so dangerous”.

The trash is mainly found in back alleys, but it isn’t always from people living in the community.

Regina city councillors and the North Central Community Association (NCCA) say many people in other communities are illegally dumping their trash in North Central.

“Most of the garbage that’s in the back alleys and on vacant lots in North Central is not North Central garbage,” Pat Faulconbridge, the executive director of the NCCA said. “They’ll dump mattresses, old appliances, and they just drop them off anywhere in North Central.”

Once the ground is thawed, she said there will be a big community cleanup through their ‘Renew’ program. Graffiti in the area is also painted over between May and the end of October.