One of the first questions I get when residents call me about trash dumped at one of our 15-recycling drop off locations is “Why do people illegally dump?”
Knox County Recycling and Litter Prevention is a Keep America Beautiful affiliate and this is how they explain it.
“Those who intentionally litter and illegally dump waste do so because, on some level, they believe it is worth the risk. This means they perceive that they will not get caught, or, if they are caught, will not face severe financial or criminal repercussions.”
Keep America Beautiful believes some illegal dumping cases are driven by greed. An individual may accept trash and accumulate it on his own personal property (sometimes referred to as “trash for cash”) or as an illegal business, with no intention of properly managing the material. This has been known to occur with used tires, electronics, landscaping debris, and construction and demolition debris, which can be relatively costly to manage properly.
We have seen an increase in illegal dumping at many of our recycling drop off sites throughout the county especially Apple Valley. Jeff Harmor, General Manager of the Apple Valley Property Owners Association has been very helpful in working with Knox County Recycling and DKMM Solid Waste District in trying to mitigate the illegal dumping issue.
Apple Valley cameras are being used to identify residents who are dropping off furniture and construction debris while Knox County Recycling and Litter Prevention has been monitoring the site more often as a way of discouraging this type of behavior.
According to Rumpke Recycling, who is contracted to recycle and maintain the bins at Apple Valley, they have concerns over the higher contamination rate being found in all of our recycling bins. During this Covid-19 pandemic, Rumpke employees are at a greater risk when residents contaminate the recycling stream. Items such as construction debris, furniture, plastic bags full of recyclables and bags of trash are being found on a regular basis in the bins.
Please do your part and recycle responsibly! We appreciate our residents who make an effort to divert recyclables out of our landfill. As of April 24 th , we have notified (7) individuals of the consequences of illegal dumping as well as contacted local law enforcement. Join us in a campaign to “Recycle Right” and reduce the contamination rate in our recycling stream.
Recycling Right is all or our responsibility!
Randy Canterbury
Recycling and Litter Prevention coordinator
