City Refuse Department workers believe they have been able to identify violators involved in the latest instance of illegal dumping at Michigan City’s public recycling bin this week. But dumping at this and other La Porte County Solid Waste District public sites continues to be costly and time-consuming to clean up, said Nancy McVay, the district’s recycling coordinator.
“We do not want to penalize honest recyclers who use this dumpster for the intended purpose,” McVay said. “But if violators continue to dump trash into the recycling dumpster, we will be left with no choice but to have it removed.”
Sometime between Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, mattress parts, carpet, wood and other trash were stuffed inside and dumped outside the public recycling bin outside Marquette Mall in Michigan City. Materials accepted in that bin include only paper, cardboard, plastics, glass and metals that are recyclable in the district’s curbside recycling program.
However, it wasn’t the first time such illegal dumping has happened, McVay said – this has been an issue off-and-on since the bins were provided. Each time, the Michigan City Refuse Department has graciously agreed to clean up the mess at this bin, but she said they shouldn’t have to.
“There are people who don’t want to be responsible for the trash they create and don’t want to pay to get rid of it,” McVay said. “They just pass the cost off to taxpayers in general and make others deal with it, but we want to put a stop to it. They should know there are people out there watching.”
Shortly after the Solid Waste District posted pictures of the mess left by the latest violators on their Facebook page, a person called the district to report seeing these activities, McVay said. That person was able to give an description of the pickup truck and a location where the truck may have been coming from. She forwarded the information to Connie Adams, code enforcer for the Michigan City Sanitary District, who traveled to the site with a city code inspector to speak to those who may have been involved. They were given a verbal warning.
Police officers have been made aware of the issue, as well, McVay said.
“They will be watching this vehicle’s location and the dumpster,” she said. “Violators will be ticketed and fined when they are caught. We are thankful people care about keeping public recycling available for all.”