Illegal dumping upsets Edna business owners
Submitted by jcht2010 on
Edna business owners are fed up with full dumpsters. The merchants, who pay monthly for the trash receptacles, say they barely have space inside for their own garbage because of illegal dumping, and not only inside the dumpsters, but the dumping of everything from bags full of garbage to furniture on the ground beside the dumpsters.
“The garbage truck does not pick up your discarded furniture and mattresses, so business owners are left to pick up after you,” said Kiny’s owner Priscilla Pryor, “We have taken a lot of furniture to the dump and paid out of our pocket to dispose of it.”
Not only does it put undue hardship on the business owner, but dumping garbage or any other discarded property in any trash receptacle that is not your own is illegal.
A common victim of frequent illegal dumping is Helping Hands of Jackson County, where many people throw out old sofas and broken furniture under the guise of “donation.”
Marcella Ramsbacher of Helping Hands wants to stress that they absolutely appreciate donations, and certainly don’t want to dissuade people from donating usable items, but the use of their donation receptacle as a discard pile for old, broken items or items that have outlived their usefulness causes a hardship for the non-profit.
“If you wouldn’t have it in your house for any reason, then we can’t use it,” said Ramsbacher, “We want to thank people for donating things that can be used but we cannot have this illegal dumping.”
“I think a lot of people are not aware that you’re not supposed to throw your trash in dumpsters,” said Sheila Miller, code enforcement officer for the City of Edna, “They believe that dumpsters are for everyone, and they are not. Somebody pays for that each month.”
The garbage truck, in fact, is not even equipped to pick up furniture and other garbage sitting beside a dumpster at all.
“The truck is not designed to hand pick up stuff,” said Miller, “The truck is designed to be automated. If you stack anything beside the dumpster – bags, anything – they’re not going to get picked up because his truck is not designed for that. He can’t pick up a bag and throw it in.”
Police Chief Clinton Wooldridge said that the police department does offer game cameras to businesses who have this problem, and that there is a fine for illegal dumping, even in dumpsters.
“I’m not sure if a lot of people know this, these businesses pay for this garbage, and the city of Edna pays for garbage to be taken from here to the transfer station,” Wooldridge said. “If you live out of town and dump your garbage in these dumpsters, you’re committing a theft of service,” he said.
There is a city ordinance as well as state laws prohibiting illegal dumping. On the state level, fines can accrue over time to cost up to thousands of dollars, depending on the weight of the garbage and the length of time before it is picked up. As per the city ordinance, dumping carries a penalty of a fine of up to $500.00.
Miller said the city clean-up is nearing, and encourages Edna residents to hold onto their old furniture until it can be legally brought to the city for free to be disposed of.
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