Homeowner finds needles among items dumped in his backyard

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A central Hamilton homeowner has found dozens of hypodermic needles illegally dumped in his backyard, but when he called the city for help with their safe removal he says a bylaw officer came by, investigated, and then gave the homeowner a notice to clean the hazardous mess up himself or face a fine.

It’s not the first time Donald McFarlane has been a victim of illegal dumping, but it’s certainly the worst. “I’m just absolutely livid because there are needles. and not just a couple needles, theres 40 or 50 needles.”

Syringes, some used, some still in their wrappers, many labeled insulin were tossed into McFarlane’s yard about 2 weeks ago along with piles of household waste.

He says he phoned Hamilton city bylaw right away. “2 days later I got a notice on my front door to clean up the garbage in the backyard and to cut my weeds in the backyard.”

The notice says failure to do so could cost McFarlane an inspection fee of up to $266 plus tax. “I cut my weeds down, but I am not cleaning up those needles. I’m not qualified to do that and I think the city should be responsible for that.”

Hamilton’s coordinator for municipal law enforcement Kelly Barnett wouldn’t comment on this case specifically as an investigation is ongoing. But she did say that private property is the homeowner’s responsibility to clean and maintain.

“The city won’t go on a private property and clean it up for various reasons. Health and safety reasons. If we went on a property and damaged it, there could be an issue that way.”

McFarlane’s property backs on to an alleyway that has frequent problems with dumping.

“Basically, if it was in the alleyway they would clean it up. We have a system with them.” said Carlos Pinho who is a volunteer with Beautiful Alleys.

Beautiful alleys is a group of residents who give their time to clean up Hamilton’s often overlooked back streets. Pinho says the city should have fenced off the area.

“If there is a building falling down or something in an alleyway they fence it off. This is on to an alleyway, open and it’s unsafe for the kids in the neighborhood.”

Pinho’s group is trained for needle retrievals. On Saturday they’re going to clean up McFarlane’s yard. Meanwhile he’s going to build a fence to try to prevent this from happening again.

Kelly Barnett from the city says illegal dumping is a huge problem in Hamilton. She says if you’re a victim you should clean it up right away because illegal dumping tends to attract more illegal dumping.

If you call the city, they say they’ll send an investigator to go through the garbage to try to find the person responsible. If guilty, fines range from $500 -$10 000.