Trash Pollution, we must end plastic pollution illegal dumping, littering, are we doing enough?

  Plastic Pollution in our oceans is a major concern, in order to address that situation we must first take a look at pollution in our Cities, in our own backyards. Illegal dumping contributes an enormous amount to the problem, here are three Cities (there are many more) taking a pro-active approach using methods that are working. "We must End Plastic Pollution"

I used this Logo twice on this blog, it's important.

  My last blog was written about plastic pollution in our rivers, lakes, and oceans, I began to wonder what cleanup efforts are being made by our local governments and private organizations. I am writing this blog on illegal dumping of trash, the Cities in our surrounding areas are inundated with piles of illegally dumped trash. It appears to be a national problem, one of which appears to be fairly easy to eliminate with a few well thought out programs. It is a situation that is designed for small governments to regulate and control. It seems many localities have taken on the challenge by changing their trash pickup programs to address the problem. One such City is Salt Lake City in the State of Utah. (Follow this Link to Salt Lake Cities "new" trash program)

Salt Lake City has taken illegal dumping response to a higher
level and they will do great at it.

  Salt Lake City's revised trash collection program will begin July of this year (2018) it will employ a program of trash removal that will include the picking up of bulky and large items from curbside. With the old plan there were two pickup dates one in the spring and one in the early fall. Illegal dumping plagues the City, trash pickup has been modified to include trash that does not fit in the normal containers, or is outside the "normal stream". Residents will be giving up some of the convenience of the old program, such as calling for a special pickup, they will now have to adhere to the Cities schedules. In exchange, the program will operate all year round and will accept electronic waste. City issued containers must still be used for most of their waste, larger exceptional items, like large branches, have been granted an exception. The new program now allows for the pickup of 4 car tires as well. Salt Lake City has the same problem with illegal dumping common to many Cities nationwide, illegal trash piled on the side of a road attracts more illegal dumping. The piles attract scavengers, both the animal and human varieties when it rains much of the pollution runs into the storm run-off system and into ponding basins.
 
  Lincoln Nebraska has it's act together putting together what I will describe as a "lifestyle". Lincoln Nebraska's Environmental Public Health sponsors a program, KLLCB, "Keep Lincoln and Lancaster County Beautiful". The goals of KLLCB are:

1) A clean, safe, and healthy community.
2) Organizing residents to take action
3) Reducing litter through cleanup projects.
4) Preventing litter through education.

  It is an extensive program encompassing many if not all of the City, and Counties departments. The Waste Management Section is part of the Environmental Public Health Division working to protect human health and the environment by:

1)  Reducing exposures to hazardous materials
2)  Ensuring proper management and the disposal of out of stream wastes.
3)  Preventing hazardous waste from being illegally dumped in the landfills.
4)  Reducing litter.
5)  Preventing illnesses and diseases caused by illegal trash dumping.
6)  Preventing damage to the environment by the improper disposal of trash.

Lincoln is doing a stellar job with Pollution.

(Follow this Link to Nebraska's KLLCB page)
   Part of the program is titled "Household Toxics Reduction Program", it sounds like a rock-solid way to deal with household chemicals which are not allowed to be processed through the normal trash collection programs. The goal of this program is to deal with toxic chemicals used around the house, pesticides, oil-based paint, leftover fuels, mercury, household cleaners, and automobile chemicals. Their logical statement is to read the expiration date, if it has expired it will be accepted, if it hasn't expired there are remedies for that as well. If they have not expired and are still safe to use, (products are banned all of the time) they should be shared with family, friends, and neighbors, if they can use them. We certainly don't want to go from one storage place to another, using compounds is almost always better than disposal.

  Lane County, Oregon also has an illegal dumping program, it is highlighted with a 5 point plan:

1)  Prevention
2)  Community involvement
3)  Clean up
4)  Enforcement
5)  Surveillance

  Residents are advised as to what actions to take when they come upon an illegally dumped pile of trash:

1)  Don't touch or remove anything, it may be evidence.
2)  Report it as soon as possible, identify the spot with milepost, or a nearby address.
3)  If you are a witness record the license plate number, and if it is safe to take a photo, do so.
4)  Call the nuisance abatement program, the reporter must leave contact information. an email may be left as well, they respond to all reports. (follow this Link to Oregon's page explaining their program)

  The Lane County Public Works removes illegal dump sites from 1,432 miles of county maintained roads and county property. The fines are steep if a person is caught and cited the amount is up to $2,000.00, they will most likely have to clean up the trash or pay for clean up costs. Many times the cleanup costs eclipse the cost of the fine, most notably when toxic waste, tires, a difficult to access dump site, or a number of large bulky items, like a boat make up the assortment. Often made up mostly of items that can be recycled at no cost at a county transfer station, including electronic waste, cardboard, scrap metal, and plastic. On the other end of the spectrum, some illegal dumps consist solely of used tires, sometimes by the hundreds. Illegal dumping is perceived by the people doing the dumping as a convenience, or free, never a necessity, the cost of cleanup is then shared by the entire community. Since 2006 the Waste Managment Division has cleared the public's roads and county-owned land:

*  500 tons of garbage.
*  Over 7,000 tires
*  2,050 TVs and computers
*  355 sofas
*  200 mattresses
*  6 hot tubs
*  9 boats

  It is definitely an uphill hike, but they are making serious headway, the main point is they have placed a dedicated system for illegal dumping, they more than know it exists.

Lane County Oregon, they are doing it. 

  There are many Counties, and Cities working on the problem of pollution, illegal dumping is a problem in all of the Cities I have lived in, and in researching this blog I did not find a local where this is not a major concern. The county I live in, Contra-Costa County, referred to as the "East Bay" which includes Oakland, Hayward, and Richmond as well as small unincorporated towns such as the one where I live. Illegal dumping is out of control here, there are trash piles everywhere a person goes, some steps are being made to combat it, but all are falling pathetically short. I live on a short 3-mile long road leading to a dead end, in the past month two boats have been dumped in the road, 50 feet from my property line. The Sheriffs Department picks them up, there is a "marine division", they patrol the rivers and sloughs, I will give them a positive plug. The Sheriff's Department sends uniformed officers with a tow vehicle to haul the boats away, but they must be on a trailer. For the unexperienced picking up a boat off of the ground to set on a trailer is a major endeavor, but after the first one, the next one is easier. That was just the area on the road near my house, there were numerous boats dumped all along our road, constantly being hauled off.
  During my working years, I traveled down a country road which is about 5 miles long, a residential main road directs traffic to it. Without exception every day many piles of trash are on that roadway, and every day the county has trucks and crews cleaning it up. It never seems to get better, once in a while a mayor of one of the citie's will be on the local news explaining one site or another. In most of the Citie's experiencing illegal dumping, awareness has been raised and City Councils are addressing the situation.
(Singapore has built a wall of Plastic Bottles, follow this Link to see the photos and read the article.)
  Fresno and several other central valley communities deal with illegal dumping in a logical way that I am sure are helping tremendously, if you are a resident and pay for garbage collection, a person can take advantage of dumping free at the landfill 2-3 times a year. If a hauling contractor has been hired they can use the residents' information to also take advantage of free dumping. They still have illegal dumps, as stated in the Oregon section above necessity is never the case it's almost always just for the convenience of the dumper.
  Its part of our culture, any time a culture is attempted to be changed there is pushback, most people want the illegal dumping to stop. Perhaps more enforcement of the law, (Our Sheriffs pick up boats now, how much more can we saddle these guys and gals with? How many cameras would be needed for Surveillance?) It is to the point that it appears some places merely accept the fact illegal dumping will take place no matter what measures are put in place. In my opinion, the answer is Community Awareness and convincing the few people responsible for the problem to use other means of disposal.
  The dumpers can be violent, I have stopped and confronted several that I have seen, some jump in their vehicle and speed off, others, well they take it as a personal challenge when asked what they are doing. Others ignore it and continue with what they were doing, they just don't care.

  I started with the intent of writing about plastic pollution, to continue on the theme of "Earth Day 2018", which is "End Plastic Pollution". I realized in order to address the plastics going into our rivers, lakes, and oceans, trash washed into them from city streets must be addressed. Java does indeed have a serious plastic problem floating in their waterways, this is not an excuse, there is no way for residents to dispose of their trash, they are required to toss it into the rivers, the governments excuse is they are a "developing Nation", yep, and also one of the oldest civilizations. On the other hand, there is no excuse for a country like the United States of America (or Java) not to be able to successfully address this problem and eliminate 80% of it. After all isn't that what we elect our representatives to do?
  Thanks for reading and sharing, leave comments, tell me what you think, I answer them all. I can send this to your email address every other day if you like, just sign up for it. Thanks for reading please share it everywhere.
jacquesandkate  Emergencykitsplus.com