One day after a Woolwich Township couple said that more should be done to deter illegal dumping, Waterloo Regional Police arrested the man believed responsible for leaving 24 barrels at their property.

A 50-year-old Kitchener man was arrested Friday.

He faces a charge of mischief, in relation to the barrels allegedly left illegally in the Weeby Place sugar bush belonging to John Weber and Michelle Shannon.

The barrels – which experts estimated to be at least 50 years old, and which were moved to Weeby Place in May – were filled with 20 different kinds of waste and chemicals.

Weber and Shannon estimated that they would have been on the hook for $45,000 in cleanup costs, had three private companies not stepped in to clean up the site at no cost.

Police say they and the Ministry of the Environment continue to investigate.