Mystery bags of brown goo plague Blueridge

Blueridge residents and the District of North Vancouver are trying to solve the mystery of some frankly disgusting bags of brown goo turning up on their streets.

Someone has been tossing them on Berkley Road, Sechelt and Layton Drive, Belloc Street, Drive and Derbyshire Way.

“There’s probably been about 15 or 20 over the last couple weeks and they keep coming,” said area resident Angela Duso. “It’s bizarre.”

Even stranger than the bags showing up is what’s inside them.

“I’ve gotten as close as I like to the contents, and it’s definitely not dog poop,” Duso said. “It looks more like a pulp.”

Neighbours have speculated the goo might be toxic and deliberately left for crows or coyotes.

It looks like the bags have been dropped from a moving car, based on their trajectory, Duso said. She’d like someone to come forward and explain what’s in the bags – and then stop throwing them where they don’t belong.

The district is now looking into the matter, although at first glance, the mystery goo does not appear to be dangerous.

“We cannot confirm at all what this strange substance is,” said Richard Boase, environmental protection officer. “There was no odour, no sheen and no otherwise sign of obvious serious concern but we don’t know what the substance is.”

District staff have collected the bags reported to them, double-bagged them, and put them in the garbage.

Boase said it was “very unlikely” the goo is dangerous, but still he advises anyone who happens by a tossed baggie to call the district.

The Blueridge brown goo mystery comes as illegal dumping is spiking across the district, Boase said. Particularly common are abandoned mattresses and construction waste.

“The regulations changed regarding how much construction drywall waste can be taken to the North Shore facility, making it very difficult now for contractors doing projects to locally recycle their drywall waste,” he said. “We’re finding drywall waste is being dumped all over the place in cul-de-sacs and in parks.”

Getting caught dumping illegally, whether it’s a bag of brown goo or load of drywall, will get you an on-the-spot ticket for $100 but the district could take the matter to court, resulting in a fine of up to $2,000.

District staff are stepping up patrols in the area, Boase said. Anyone who witnesses illegal dumping should call the district.