Not again!

[2LaneCruzer]

We live on an acreage in an area with four other houses, and on a short street with a cul-de-sac. We had one coprophagic individual dump a pickup load of shrubbery trimmings about 50 feet from the house at the edge of the turn around, between my house and one of our neighbors. It was actually on my neighbor's property, but both of them are disabled. So, I hauled about three trailer loads to the back of my property, where it is now functioning as "erosion control". I cannot imagine the mentality of these idiots.

I also saw a crew of "immigrants" dump a trailer load of leaves in our creek.

 

[DrRod]

Once a week I ride my roadside fence line and pick up trash, every week I pick up at least 10 Keystone light beer cans. I致e got a neighbor farther up the road who really likes keystone light.

Boy does this sound familiar. My fields are just about 15 or 20 minutes from the main road and there is always a collection of beer cans [often Keystone Light] at the edge of the field. My guess is that someone pops open a beer when he leaves the highway and it takes just about 15 or 20 minutes to finish it -- then he tosses the can out the window.

Back home in Howard County, MD we have the best dump ever. Its like a giant food court where you sort of progress around a loop. Starts with paint and hazardous chemicals [they would rather you bring them in rather than dump them to ultimately end up in the bay], then there's a place for electronics, cardboard, hard plastics [lots of Little Tykes stuff in there], tires, mattresses, oil, batteries, foam, food, clothes, bikes, appliances, air conditioners, metal, and general trash. Then there is a back area for yard waste and large wood waste. They have a giant mulcher and will fill your pickup for $12. They even have a mailbox-like stand to dispose of worn out flags.

Its free to residents and on Saturdays its like a community picnic. Hundreds of minivans and station wagons stuffed with yard waste. The entrance road looks like a state park and at the base is a gazebo and a bunch of food trucks. It truly renews your faith in the possibility of government getting something done right.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You just reminded me. We have an open container law in this state, so I assume it's "safer" for them to dump their cans...and the cartons...than it is to take the chance of getting pulled over with a bunch of empty cans in the car. I see a lot of beer cans and cartons, disposable diapers, sacks of leaves, etc. along the road sides here, plus something you didn't see when I was a kid...plastic bags hanging in the weeds, fences and in the trees.

 

[GirlWhoWantsTractor]

The first big trash problem I saw, or at least can remember, was up in the Kentucky mountains, especially out on fire roads. The amount of trash, tires and appliances was sickening. Which is why the roads got closed down.

Yeah, it really surprised me to see that up here. Seems like there are two kinds of country folks; what I call the "traditional" country folk keep their properties tended very neatly; it is a point of pride and to do otherwise unthinkable; they are hard workers and good neighbors. The other kind doesn't seem to care about anything, it's like they're just lazy and careless. They also pop up in the "arrests" section of the newspaper regularly for drunk driving, drugs, domestic violence, theft, etc. They are as scary as anything I ever saw in the big city.

'nother cute story. The crews that trim trees under the powerlines came through the county a few years ago, and they cr...ped all over our woods. Wads of white toilet paper was how I realized it. I called the power co and went ballistic and hope it did some good but doubt it. (Also we hired some guys to do yard work and they did the same thing. We had a nice basement bathroom for their use and told them to use it but they refused.)

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Boy does this sound familiar. My fields are just about 15 or 20 minutes from the main road and there is always a collection of beer cans [often Keystone Light] at the edge of the field. My guess is that someone pops open a beer when he leaves the highway and it takes just about 15 or 20 minutes to finish it -- then he tosses the can out the window.

Back home in Howard County, MD we have the best dump ever. Its like a giant food court where you sort of progress around a loop. Starts with paint and hazardous chemicals [they would rather you bring them in rather than dump them to ultimately end up in the bay], then there's a place for electronics, cardboard, hard plastics [lots of Little Tykes stuff in there], tires, mattresses, oil, batteries, foam, food, clothes, bikes, appliances, air conditioners, metal, and general trash. Then there is a back area for yard waste and large wood waste. They have a giant mulcher and will fill your pickup for $12. They even have a mailbox-like stand to dispose of worn out flags.

Its free to residents and on Saturdays its like a community picnic. Hundreds of minivans and station wagons stuffed with yard waste. The entrance road looks like a state park and at the base is a gazebo and a bunch of food trucks. It truly renews your faith in the possibility of government getting something done right.

Wish frederick co was like that...

 

[newbury]

What kind of people throw beer bottles, animal carcasses, fast-food trash, old clothes, tires, and bags of household trash out of your truck onto random people's property as you go tearing by at full speed on a curvy gravel road?

In the middle of the beautiful mountains (which you should be proud to live in).
When there are county provided dumpsters located conveniently at the side of the road every 5 miles for FREE trash disposal.

Trashy people I guess.

Since I don't "go tearing by at full speed" it wouldn't apply.

But early on in my career I was driving for a field recon in West Virginia. Had a summer hire toss a McDonalds bag out along a fairly busy rural highway while I was doing 50 mph. Took a long time for him to walk back, pick it up, and return. Surprised the 4 senior people with me but was effective.

If you carry it in, carry it out doesn't only apply to hiking trails.

 

[dmccarty]

When we lived in the city we paid to have trash picked up at the house as part of our water bill. There was a collection center we could use at no charge which could be handy. Course, it was not free since we paid for the service with our water bill but there was no checking of residency or such. As a result there was not much dumping. I can think of one area that had some appliances but that was it.

Where we live now, property tax includes payment for the use of the collection centers. When we first move here, there was no ID checking, but eventually the county had to send out stickers for the wind shield. Too many people from neighboring counties, which charged for collection center use, where using our facilities and driving up costs. After the stickers went into use, we had a pretty big drop in collection center use. Assuming there was more trash dumped in the counties that charged to use their collection centers. Really stupid.

Decades ago, I can remember one mobile home that had filled up the yard with trash bags. The woods were just full of white trash bags. :confused3: They had a car. The collection center does not charge Yet the back yard was full of white trash bags. :confused3: If they had used black bags, it would have been a bit less in your face but still a mess. Eventually it got clean up but what a mess.

The collection centers used to have recyclables in different containers. Green, brown and white glass had different compartments. Card board had multiple dumpsters as did steel cans, aluminum cans, magazines and plastic. Now everything goes into one big compacter dumpster. They say someone goes through the recyclables but that does not make sense. Given the low price on recyclable materials, I think it just goes to the dump with the other trash. Metal trash like grills, metal roof/siding, appliances, etc does still get recycled. We pay a tax when buying appliances to pay for disposal but I suspect that money just goes to a general fund eventually.

Later,
Dan

 

[CobyRupert]

A few years ago I had an issue with oil filters, trash ect dumped at my place every few months. I went through the filters and there were consistently three different ones. Low and behold a guy mile up had those 3 exact cars in his driveway. He then made the mistake to include a magazine with his address on it. I then recollected many of the filters from my scrap recycle pile and dumped about 10 filters and all the there crap from the most recent dump in the middle of his drive. Never happened again..............

I had a tenant who moved out and left a heaping pick-up load of garbage, old tires, bed springs, grills, busted furniture, you name it. The tenant said he would come get it "later", he was a real con man snake, also a preacher. I knew where his new church assignment was (with his new house next door), so after a couple weeks I waited until Sunday morning when he was busy giving his sermon (probably about being a good person) and "returned" his property to his driveway. I thought returning it for free was the very charitable Christian thing to do.

You just reminded me. We have an open container law in this state, so I assume it's "safer" for them to dump their cans...and the cartons...than it is to take the chance of getting pulled over with a bunch of empty cans in the car. I see a lot of beer cans and cartons, disposable diapers, sacks of leaves, etc. along the road sides here, plus something you didn't see when I was a kid...plastic bags hanging in the weeds, fences and in the trees.

Yeah, I think a lot of the garbage I see is thrown out not because they're lazy slobs (per se), but a lot of the stuff is thrown out over GUILT and/or not wanting to be caught with item. Things like:

Scratch off lottery tickets: Thrown out by "losers" (literally) who spent money that they probably couldn't afford on a losing scratch off ticket. They're either ashamed or don't want spouse to find out. (I wish if they were going to "throw their money out the window" like that they wouldn’t convert it into lottery tickets first!)

Beer bottles: Again don't want t get caught by spouse or the law.

Fast food wrappers: From the high percentage of garbage that is this, I really suspect there is a contingency of people (women?) who secretly eat fast food on their way home from work, then either because of shame/guilt of cheating on their diet, or spouse finding wrappers, etc.. feel the need to immediate discard evidence.

Nothing like a little roadside anthropology!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

:thumbsup:
I had a tenant who moved out and left a heaping pick-up load of garbage, old tires, bed springs, grills, busted furniture, you name it. The tenant said he would come get it "later", he was a real con man snake, also a preacher. I knew where his new church assignment was (with his new house next door), so after a couple weeks I waited until Sunday morning when he was busy giving his sermon (probably about being a good person) and "returned" his property to his driveway. I thought returning it for free was the very charitable Christian thing to do.



Yeah, I think a lot of the garbage I see is thrown out not because they're lazy slobs (per se), but a lot of the stuff is thrown out over GUILT and/or not wanting to be caught with item. Things like:

Scratch off lottery tickets: Thrown out by "losers" (literally) who spent money that they probably couldn't afford on a losing scratch off ticket. They're either ashamed or don't want spouse to find out. (I wish if they were going to "throw their money out the window" like that they would convert it into lottery tickets first!)

Beer bottles: Again don't want t get caught by spouse or the law.

Fast food wrappers: From the high percentage of garbage that is this, I really suspect there is a contingency of people (women?) who secretly eat fast food on their way home from work, then either because of shame/guilt of cheating on their diet, or spouse finding wrappers, etc.. feel the need to immediate discard evidence.

Nothing like a little roadside anthropology!

Great nomenclature! I love it!

 

[dmccarty]

...

'nother cute story. The crews that trim trees under the powerlines came through the county a few years ago, and they cr...ped all over our woods. Wads of white toilet paper was how I realized it. I called the power co and went ballistic and hope it did some good but doubt it. (Also we hired some guys to do yard work and they did the same thing. We had a nice basement bathroom for their use and told them to use it but they refused.)

We have had the same problem with contractors working on a neighbors house. I don't begrudge going to the bathroom but at least bury the paper. Having said that, the paper does eventually go away. One contractor did not use paper but an old T Shirt. I took said T shirt and put it on his trailer.

The wife's family rents out their old farm land, and on our last visit, after the fall harvest, I was walking the land and the woods where full of used piles of TP. I could not walk into the woods in some places because of the human land mines. :thumbdown: The farmer does bring out Porta Johns but the workers were not using them at all. Not sure how clean the Porta Johns where but I can't imagine they were that bad given there were not that many people working.

Later,
Dan