They wouldn’t take his garbage so he wouldn’t let the garbage collectors leave his street.
Wade Pipes simply parked his half-ton truck at the entrance of Spruce Grove Lane in Seagrove, Cumberland County, on Monday morning, making it impossible for the garbage truck to carry on.
It was a retaliatory move after the collectors rejected his broken down barbecue, leaving it behind for the 62-year-old-man to dispose of himself.
Pipes, who’s owned the cottage property for 25 years, says he’s never had any previous curbside garbage rejected, including a La-Z-Boy.
“Because it’s a piece of garbage I’m not going to leave it sitting on my cottage property for the next year, not when I pay taxes to have it picked up, ” said Pipes.
“When I noticed them leaving the barbecue behind, I said, ‘Wow, boys. Why aren’t you taking my cottage garbage?’ They told me it’s because it’s steel.
“Well, I said, ‘If I put a couch out here the thing is made of steel springs, what’s the difference?’ It didn’t matter to them. They said, we’re not going to pick it up.”
Pipes said one of the two collectors called 911 to report the incident to the RCMP at about 10 a.m. About two hours later a tow truck arrived, which prompted Pipes to move the truck himself. He said police officers never showed up but two people employed by the municipality arrived,requesting him to move his truck and verifying the municipality does not do metal curbside collection.
Unlike the neighbouring Municipality of the County of Colchester, the Cumberland municipality does not pick up any metal items, including washers, dryers and barbecues, as part of its regular residential garbage collection run. Both municipalities pay Miller Waste Systems to look after curbside garbage collection.
A couple of years ago, Cumberland County changed its garbage pickup contract with Miller Waste to exclude metal items from regular residential curbside collection. The current contracts allow residential metal removal just once a year in June, meaning Pipes just missed his opportunity.
The Town of Amherst also permits roadside pickup of one metal bulk item every two weeks.
Pipes said he intends to fight the Cumberland municipality to include a similar service, arguing county taxpayers deserve to be offered the same metal disposal service as their provincial neighbours.
Pipes said he filed a complaint with the municipality on Monday morning, requesting the barbecue be picked up. He says he intends to deliver the barbecue to the parking lot of the E.D. Fullerton Municipal Building at 6 a.m. on Tuesday if it’s not removed from his property first thing in the morning.
If Pipes follows through with his threat, he could be facing a fine for littering, said Joe Van Vulpen, deputy warden of the municipality.
Van Vulpen said no one with the municipality was involved in the morning dispute.
The Chronicle Herald reached out to Miller Waste but no one from the company responded.
Van Vulpen said the municipality does not intend to amend its current garbage collection contract with Miller Waste to include regular metal pickup. The metal would have to be separated and loaded on another truck, he said.
But he said there are three municipal locations where metal can be disposed of at no charge, including Advocate, Pugwash and River Hebert.
It’s not an option Pipes is considering.
“I do not take stuff to the dump when it’s supposed to be picked up by the garbage collectors. I pay taxes for this to be done.”
