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Opinion: Dumping drivers have left this Burnaby roadside a shambles

Some drivers just don’t like their vehicles to get dirty. That’s why they press their dirty little fingers on the button that rolls down their passenger-side window and toss their trash out the window.
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Garbage left at the side of Highway 1 next to Deer Lake Brook in Burnaby. John Preissl photo

Some drivers just don’t like their vehicles to get dirty.

That’s why they press their dirty little fingers on the button that rolls down their passenger-side window and toss their trash out the window.

This behaviour happens more often than you think in Burnaby, especially in one particular place.

The roadside area along Highway 1 through Burnaby is a disgusting mess because drivers don’t care about being pigs.

Burnaby environmentalist John Preissl is fed up with the mess. One area that really irks him is the garbage left at Deer Lake Brook, which borders the freeway.

This small waterway serves as important habitat for many species at Burnaby Lake. 

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Garbage left at the side of Highway 1 in Burnaby. John Preissl photo

Dirty drivers, of course, don’t care.

“All along the freeway it pretty well looks like this,” said Preissl. “The ministry of highways have crews that clean up the garbage periodically. It is a highly dangerous job. I clean up twice a year in the brook here. On any given day, you could not even imagine what people throw out of the vehicles and what blows off semi-trucks.”

Many truckers don’t secure their loads properly so chunks of whatever they are hauling flies off and lands in the bushes or grassy areas.

People just treat these areas like one giant garbage can because, well, it’s not their problem.

Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.