Trash, Trash, Trash!!!

We have 8 dumpsters in our community and it seems the one near the clubhouse gets the most use – probably because it’s alongside a city street that cuts through the community. Every year around this time, when people are doing major cleaning or moving out (because our townhouse community has a lot of rentals - another rant for another day), this dumpster is, once again, a magnet for illegal dumping. The city won't pick this up and the Association winds up paying to have it hauled off.

I pass this dumpster everyday as it's down the street from my unit (we have curbside pickup on our street) and noticed the garbage truck didn't make a stop because a bike, a sofa, some broken furniture and other crap was in the way. Someone also dropped what ppeared to be some sort of dryer or washing machine on the floor of the dumpster shed.

I know some of this may be due to people driving through and dropping off their stuff (some homeowners have reported this, but weren't able to write down the license number), but it’s occurred to me that maybe we should consider locking that dumpster because the others are close enough to certain parts of the community where there’s no need to use this one. I would think this dumpster is best used when the clubhouse is being used and in any case, we wouldn't have to lock it if people would stop tossing stuff they've been told the city won't pick up! However, that may lead to people simply tossing it over the side, creating more of a mess and expense.

Does anyone else have any ideas we could consider? I thought about the association setting up some type of recycling program to relieve some of the problem, but you have to pay extra for that service (Indianapolis isn’t as progressive on recycling as other cities although it has improved somewhat). Thanks for listening to my rant, as always and for any tips you can provide!

Options (as I see them):

Install a camera near the dumpster (to catch the non-residents).

Contract or arrange for a donation vehicle to come through the development once or twice a month and advertise those days for residents to leave items on the curb. Perhaps, establish a drop off point on the property specifically for those items and contact a donation vehicle as needed.

Contract or arrange for a recycle day every couple of months for electronics.

OR simply post numbers of those contacts for the community, that is, make it as easy as possible for those who won't take the time to look the numbers up on their own.

Is there any kind of fencing around it? We had a similar issue with our dumpsters often getting surrounded by trash. Our city has a "Green Team" program that you can report illegal dumpers to. So you called their number or submitted pictures to for action.

Not much you can do with open private resources like dumpster besides maybe put up signs and stating the area has surveillance. Maybe hiding it with a fence so has to be opened and closed. However, make sure the trash people are alright with this and maybe give them a key if you all decide to lock it. Which I would avoid doing. The purpose is just to hide it not to deny access.

Cheap way? I'd install 5 fake cameras and a sign that says no illegal dumpster use police are notified and we press charges. $50 See if it works.

Actually, when we looked at the pad issue, we'd hoped to replace all of them because this is a problem throughout the community. The clubhouse dumpster is the most visible because it's off the city street and that's why it's had the most problems (except for another dumpster that some fools set on fire last summer and we had to pay to replace it and rebuild the trash shed!)

Because of the way the area's designed we can't put in bigger dumpsters - which we learned when we spoke to the trash collector. Unfortunately, our developers were cheap as hell and designed the space stupidly! It really would have been better to reduce the number of units in those areas so the lots could have space for large dumpsters and even carports (only a third of the community has attached one car garages) but sometimes it seems to me they didn't think cars were that important, then changed their mind to build townhouses with garages (and THEN they went bankrupt!)

Shelia

Seems the solution is more frequent emptying of the dumpsters. Pass the cost on to the owners.