Last year was a bumper year for rural dumping, which cost the county more than $24,000 in 2006, officials said, and that money is coming out of taxpayers’ pockets.
Chip Woods, county engineer, said clean-up of illegal dumping in the county cost a total of $24,245.66, up from 2005’s total of $11,791.16.
“The last two years have really picked up,” Woods said.
When it comes to illegal rural dumping, it seems anything and everything is dumped.
“It’s not unusual to find couches and mattresses,” Woods said. “The big item now is furniture.”
Woods said a large load of shingles was dumped in the middle of a rural road. The cost to the county for clean-up was hefty because workers had to pick up all the shingles — and the nails.
Other items range from household trash to brush. One rural county road has construction demolition debris dumped on the side of it that seems to go on forever. To clean this up, Woods said, the county will have to bring in dump trucks and heavy equipment, making it expensive and labor intensive.
“It’s just dumbfounding,” Woods said.
Woods said most of the dumping hot spots are five miles outside of Emporia, usually either near a river or under the turnpike. According to mapquest.com, it’s 2.54 miles to the transfer station from downtown Emporia.
Some landowners have worked with the county to have roads leading to the river shut down to keep people from dumping.
“It doesn’t take that long to dump out a load of trash,” Woods said.
Another place people are dumping is off the side of the Rocky Ford bridge southwest of Emporia. A recliner, some tires and even a bicycle can be seen in the river, evidence that people had simply tossed them off the bridge. Woods said he doesn’t know how the county is going to clean that up because the bank is straight up and down.
Woods said his office is getting calls two to three times a week from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office to go out and clean up a dump. If it’s on the county right of way, the county has to clean it up.
Landowners bear the burden of cleaning up dump sites on their property. But Woods cautioned residents not to simply pick up certain items that are dumped on them. Anything such as a cooler, quart bottle, thermos and bottles could be deadly.
“With all the trouble with meth, you gotta be careful,” Woods said. “You open that container and it could kill you. Don’t pick up a storage container. Call the sheriff.”
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment does have a grant where the county can purchase surveillance equipment for hot spots.
“It would be nice to catch someone and make an example out of them,” Woods said.
Woods said the cost eats at his budget and the taxpayer is paying.
“It’s all taxpayer dollars,” he said.
hjcary (anonymous) says...
I can't believe people are dumping like this. The city dump is cheap compared to other areas. I live in the Denver Metro area and its a flat fee depending on the size of the pick up not the load like you have it in Emporia. We could take a truck load full to the top of the cab and it would be the same as a wheel barrow full in the back of the truck its a flat fee and if we show up at the dump with the load not covered its automatically double the fee and it is a lot more then what you all pay. I think a small pickup bed is about $30. In Emporia its minimal cost last I knew. Not to mention people dumping trash in their own water supply come on people common sense. Your polluting dirt that your food is grown in and the water you drink and that waters the food you eat.
April 2, 2007 at 1:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
admireed (anonymous) says...
Make it a $1000 fine with 50% going to the snitch, if any.
April 2, 2007 at 1:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
abc123 (anonymous) says...
You said it hjcary, it is easy and cheap to dump at the City dump here, they are even open on SUNDAY people, there really is no excuse for this, if you can afford to re-roof your home or someone elses' (contractors) then you can afford to go dump the old shingles at the City dump!!!
What kind of a tight wad do you have to be to waste gas, and your time, driving around to find a good country spot to dump your crap when you could just do the right thing and go to the dump! It would be easier on our environment too! Not that these illegal dumpers care. I hope the county nails someone on this deal.
April 2, 2007 at 2:28 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hottopics (anonymous) says...
Well I remember when they came out with the poly carts people said that some would start dumping because of the limits to the amount of trash you could put in it in one week. They used to pick up twice a week. I'm not surprised this is going on. Oh Im sure the city will hike our prices like they do on everything else to cover the costs.
April 3, 2007 at 10:42 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
abc123 (anonymous) says...
RECYCLE!!!! I have a family of 6 people here and we don't even fill one cart per week! I recycle cardboard, plastic, glass, steel and aluminum. It is so easy and dramatically cuts down the amount of trash in the cart every week. People are so lazy anymore, we have an awesome recycling center and guess what ......IT IS FREE!!! When we first moved here we had two carts and once I got set up to recycle I had them come take one cart away because we never have more than one barely full per week. With two adults and four children in our house it just makes sense. No more excuses. Glass can be recycled an infinite number of times!!! Over and over and over, why put it in the dump! We all have to be responsible and reduce the amount of recyclable material that is put into the landfills to just sit there when it could be reused.
April 3, 2007 at 11:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
hjcary (anonymous) says...
abc123,
We are also a family of 6 and we have very little trash as well. The city we used to live in had the trash bins you called "poly carts" and they held more trash then we had. Now we are in a different city and use regular trash barrels but those poly carts are a whole lot easier. My parents are in Emporia and they recycle almost all of their trash as well. They live in the country so what cannot be recycled or burned has to go to the dump. Which like you said is CHEAP but they still recycle everything that can be.
April 3, 2007 at 11:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
ksbrdwtchr (anonymous) says...
It would be interesting to see the total our County Road and Bridge spends on cleaning up illegal dumping, vandalized road signs, torn up roads from people four wheeling after a rain, and stolen signs? I would like to know what Chip Woods could do with that amount of money or how much lower our property taxes could be?
FYI to 'hottopics' you can request a second poly cart. The City charges more for two poly carts. Some one with twice as much trash should pay twice as much.
April 3, 2007 at 11:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )