Members of the town councils in both Renews-Cappahayden and Bay Bulls are sounding the alarm over allegations of harassment at the Renews-Cappahayden Eastern Regional Service Board (ERSB) waste facility.
“It’s concerning to all the residents of the region,” said Renews-Cappahayden Mayor Jack Lawlor. “Certain people are going to the facility and bringing items that they want to dispose of that are items that are not on the list of approved items. The Eastern Regional Service Board has published a pretty detailed list of what you’re allowed and not allowed to bring to the facility and when they have been told those items are not acceptable, then their attitudes become a bit belittling.”
RCMP confirmed there was a report of a threatening message made, but no charges were warranted.
Bay Bulls Deputy Mayor Jason O’Brien shared a similar sentiment as that of Lawlor.
“We’ve been having issues with the public coming in and basically threatening and giving the attendant a hard time,” said O’Brien. “Some people don’t want to follow the rules, and some people think they can drop off whatever they feel like, and when the attendant says, ‘No, we can’t take this’ or ‘You can’t drop that off,’ people start getting disrespectful.”
The facility is typically manned by one attendant, and O’Brien said the service board has cycled in employees from other facilities who have been met with similar disrespect.
“It’s getting to the point that workers don’t want to go there,” said O’Brien. “And in this day and age that doesn’t fly anymore.”
He said there haven’t been any such issues at the Bay Bulls facility, and that if the abusive behaviour continues, the ERSB may be forced to close the Renews site entirely.
Both men say the behaviour has to stop.
“We have these waste recovery facilities in place, they’re in place for a reason, they’re a valuable resource to residents and allow residents to drop off bulk waste and dispose of it in an environmentally friendly way, and we need to keep these facilities open and functioning on a regular basis,” said Lawlor. “But it’s no different than any other workplace. You can’t have people come in and bully you and disrespect you in your workplace, and we can’t have this happening at the waste recovery facility.”
The facility was closed during much of August due to the issues.
The service board was unable to comment on the matter due to the RCMP investigation.
Both councillors, meanwhile, say the majority of users are respectful of both the rules and the facility’s workers.
