EATON — Illegal dumping continues to be an issue in Preble County, according to Beth Wright, Assistant Director of Preble County Solid Waste District. During the Board of Commissioners meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 14, she shared a picture with the board of a large amount of carpet dumped in the Camden public recycling collection bins.
Unfortunately, while there are cameras at that recycling site, they were not able to get a full picture of the perpetrator’s license plate. Wright had to spend her time cleaning up the carpet, instead of doing other tasks assigned to her position.
“At some point, if this continues to happen, we’re going to have to stop. They’re going to lose this service. It would be a shame, but it is because of people like this. You can’t continue to be the free garbage for [Preble County]. This should have been on a trailer to the dump,” Commissioner Denise Robertson said.
“There is a point where we need to determine, is it practical to even mess with trying to keep these. Yes, we’re charged $60 for contaminated recyclables from Rumpke. If you look at it, that is time, [Wright] is out there on her own and it is a safety concern not knowing what any of these [dumped items] are,” Preble County Engineer Kyle Cross said.
Robertson said, it may get to a point where they have to remove all the recycling collection points in the villages in Preble County and the only place you can take recyclables is the Preble County Landfill.
Wright added, she put $3,000 in extra dump fees in to the budget this year. She is already $1,500 through those funds. They are charged $60 per contaminated bins. This is not including in Wright’s salary and time that is being spent cleaning recycling bins throughout the week.
“At this point, I think Kyle [Cross] and staff needs to look at this. Getting towards the end of the year at budget time, we need to review this and see where we think we need to be with this. It is a great service for the people who utilize it, but we have been battling this,” Commissioner Chris Day said. “We’ve tried various solutions.”
Wright is also working on planning a Trash Bash, which will be a one day event where volunteers and county offices will come together to clean up miles of county roadways from trash. They are looking to have the event sometime this spring, possibly in April.
The event is still in the beginning stages of planning. According to Wright, the idea came from concerned citizens noticing trash among the roadways.
They are already seeking potential volunteers so they can organize a planing committee that will meeting in September.
FFA students, church groups, athletic teams, 4-H members, and more are welcome to participate. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Beth Wright at the Solid Waste District at 937-456-6880.
