Some people, it seems, regard the countryside as a dumping ground.The latest evidence: a couch and love seat apparently dumped along Curtis Road. (It was not near the entrance to anyoneís home or a trash bin.) It was only there a few days, so presumably either an outstanding citizen picked it up and took it to the dump or someone took advantage of a free couch and gave it a home. The county has no record of picking it up.Over the years, Iíve seen broken-down furniture, mattresses, bags of trash and other debris littering the roadside. Even worse, I occasionally hear of animals -ñ typically a dog or cat ñ- being dumped in the country.Dave Ahrens, chairman of the Eastern Plains Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, posted about the issue on the neighborhood social network Nextdoor. So, I reached out to him about the problem.ìI’ve not seen animals dumped but have read posts here and there about them,î he replied via email. ìThe trash that I see being dumped is typically on more out-of-the-way, less traveled roads. Not just trash bags or the occasional mattresses but what appears to be pickup loads of everything from daily trash to large quantities of old building materials.ìThings like this have gone on for years; and, yes, I feel it has gotten worse as the population increases to the east. We can all speculate as to ëwhy,í but it is such a shame to see people care so little for their own neighborhoods.îIt ultimately can become the headache of El Paso County government.ìUpon request, the El Paso County Public Works Department, Highway Division, removes trash dumped illegally within the right of way of unincorporated El Paso County,î said Natalie Sosa, deputy public information officer with the county, via email. ìTrash includes couches and bulky items left in the right of way.†The staff reviews each service request, prioritizes and schedules for completion.ìDumping trash is illegal, and every effort is made to identify those who dump illegally and report them to law enforcement for further action.†Citizens can submit a service request for dumping and trash removal online via El Paso County Citizen Connect by visiting†https://citizenconnect.elpasoco.com/#/homepage.îSince the county started tracking such requests via Citizen Connect in January 2018, there have been 1,223 dumping/trash removal requests, Sosa said, though some of those were duplicates.†ìThus far in 2021, we have had 140 dumping/trash removal requests, in comparison to the same time frame in 2020 when we had 180,î she said.That was of mid-July. I found it interesting that we’re behind last year’s rate. Perhaps last year, with people holed up during the pandemic, they took the opportunity to clean out their house ó and litter the countryside.The problem isnít limited to El Paso County, of course. I found a 2011 article in the Online Journal of Rural Research that looked at the issue ó and even detailed different types of dumping, including
- The family spring fling: ìThese piles include old shingles, windows, scrap wood, leaves and various other yard debris, often the byproducts of an annual spring cleaning around the home. Ö These kinds of piles suggest that, for some, the amount of unwanted stuff around the home has mounted to a point that it becomes unmanageable. These appear to be the most desperate of all dumps ñ- a random collection of yard debris, electronics, furniture, empty paint cans, etc. ñ- all of which are loaded up and dumped together.î
- The appliance plop: ìThe appliance plop sites are the most obvious, often found in open fields near paved roads, looking much like a miniature scrap yard. These dumps include old washers, dryers and refrigerators, but bodies lay here too ñ- car bodies, engines and other assorted parts.”
- The drive-by dump: ìLiterally the act of tossing trash, usually in the form of garbage bags or larger items, out of the car while traveling down the road or highway.î
