Please show responsibility at county trash sites

Many residents around Hill County do not have a trash collection service and must haul their garbage to the landfill or one of our remote sites. Most of these sites are owned by Hill County and are considered public land.

My office has received many calls over the past few years concerning the upkeep of these sites. It seems that there are a few citizens in Hill County who feel that they can dump their trash on the dirt pad instead of in the large dumpsters. This creates a problem for everyone else that needs to dump garbage because they cannot back up to the wall due to the trash left on the pad. This problem continues until it is out of control!

I believe that most people in this area understand why the cement walls were placed in front of the dumpsters, but I will remind everyone again so we can all be on the same page. State building codes require that any drop off more than 30 inches must have a railing or safety wall in front of it to protect people from falling over the drop off. Hill County and Unified Disposal do not want anyone to get hurt and must keep people from falling into the containers.

I believe this is very easy to understand but it then adds an additional responsibility to everyone who uses the container sites. You must put all your garbage in the dumpster or if the dumpster is full, wait (haul it back home) until a new dumpster is put in place. It is unacceptable for anyone to dump their trash on the dirt pad. The practice creates litter problems, health concerns and even nails in people's tires. Unified Disposal employees try to keep these areas clean, but due to cost cannot be at every site on a daily basis.

The sites that consistently seem to be in the worst condition are: Fresno, Box Elder and Beaver Creek. The best sites are: Cottonwood, St. Joe, Gildford and Hingham. We appreciate those of you who help keep these sites cleaned up and functional for everyone.

Clay Vincent

If the worst sites do not get better, the Landfill Board has only two options:

1. Only allow these sites to be open a few days a week, instead of 24-7

2. Place a site monitor at these sites to watch people and help keep the area clean.

This first option is easy to do but it will create some hardships for some people. The second option will cost all of us more money on our county tax notice. If you are taking large items to be disposed of, take someone with you so that you can easily place the item in a dumpster, or you can haul the item directly to the landfill where equipment is available to help you with disposal.

Dead animals are not to be put in the dumpsters; they should always be hauled directly to the landfill.

Personal responsibility is all it takes to keep these areas clean. Everyone needs to govern themselves appropriately. Let's see how responsible we can be, and keep these sites clean!

(Clay Vincent is the Hill County sanitarian.)