Parkland County explores bylaw changes to deter illegal dumping

PARKLAND COUNTY -- Parkland County is exploring bylaw changes to deter littering and illegal dumping.

This comes as a motion tabled by Councillor Jason Doucette on June 9, 2026, directed administration to review Parkland County Bylaws related to littering and illegal dumping occurring on roadways, in ditches, and on public and private lands to identify opportunities to strengthen deterrence. Doucette says that his motion was motivated by a recent incident that saw a commercial operator dump waste in front of a residence.

"In early April, our neighbourhood was visited by a dump truck whose operator felt it was necessary to dump a load of mixed waste in front our neighbour's home and into their ditch," said Doucette. "That incident stirred discussion in the neighbourhood and brought forth a renewed interest from myself, to look at our dumping and littering bylaw to find opportunities to strengthen deterrence, and to possibly make Parkland County an unfriendly area for the bad actors leaving their waste problems here."

Doucette says he has also personally witnessed some of the County's day-use areas left with "mountains of litter" for staff and other residents to clean up. He says he believes that the majority of local littering and dumping issues are the result of individuals from outside the County, and that occurrences of dumping on active roadways have also become a problem for motorists.

"I believe that increasing fines, and potentially splitting the offences into different categories -- for example, public versus commercial offences -- is a first step to provide enforcement with improved tools to battle this ongoing issue," said Doucette. "Within these changes, there may even be opportunities available to recover clean-up costs for the larger infractions."

The approved motion also directs County staff to develop a communications strategy to communicate any proposed changes in a strategic effort to curb infractions before they occur. Options to address the issues through possible bylaw changes are expected to return to Council on July 14.