Dumpster vs. trash cart

This morning, I received a flyer from our board of directors about our trash service. It appears we are in danger of losing our service (HOAs and condos have to sign separate contracts with the city's trash pickup vendors for service). This is happening because there's been an increase of illegal dumping, as well as the usual problem with residents who think they can dump any damned thing (last week someone actually tossed in a sofa!)

The flyer stated the board is currently talking to the current trash service to head this off, but warned if they drop us, we'll have to get another service, which of course will cost more money. Our security officers have received tips on two trucks that may be responsible for the illegal dumping and hopefully, the flyer will encourage people to call or send in cell phone photos of the culprits.

Since I haven't entirely gotten the board member mindset out of my head (after 5 years off the board!), I thought about long term solutions. One option might be to toss the dumpsters altogether and give everyone a rolling trash cart. Right now, my street is the only one with this, but all the townhomes have a small patio where a trash cart could go. Maybe if people used that, they'd be more thoughtful about what they're tossing.

I'm also planning to suggest to the board that we consider establishing an area next to the dumpsters (if we keep them) where we can place recycling bins. The strip mall across the street has one, but it gets filled pretty quickly - and yes, it's been in danger of being eliminated because people don't read the instructions as to what is and isn't acceptable (it's already been moved from two locations because of the mess).

In the meantime, opinions on replacing the dumpsters with rolling trash bins are welcome, as well as any other suggestions, such as encouraging people to recycle. For those of you with surveillance cameras monitoring your trash areas, your thoughts on how effective that has been would also be welcome!

Shelia, I think rolling trash bins and surveillance cameras are worth trying, based on the following. First, for the archives, what percentage rentals is your community? As you may recall the issue your HOA is facing comes up here from time to time. People point out that the turnover of renters seems to be the main problem. My former condo faced the exact same issue, including the City's increasing its fee for picking up the trash, because dumpsters were overflowing and furniture was illegally appearing in the dumpsters too often. My former condo often had success with surveillance cameras nailing perps.

Before investing in cameras for help, please check with your local police department and ask them if they will do anything with the footage. In our city the police department will only issue a ticket if they are caught in the act of illegal dumping. Having pictures of the people, vehicle and license plate did nothing.

We did have one of our elderly residents pull in front of one of them with her car and demand that they load their vehicle back up with everything they dumped. They did just that and we haven't seen them again.

Our courtesy officers are off duty cops, so I will ask them about the footage - thanks for the tip?

I love the chutzpah of your neighbor - although I don't think I'd block anyone in, I do remember heading to a board meeting at our clubhouse when saw a man pull up with a pickup truck full of junk next to the dumpster. I asked him (politely) "Sir, do you live here?"

"No."

"Well, you can't throw that stuff in here - these dumpsters are for residents only and half of that stuff is heavy trash the city won't pick up anyway."

Our board president happened to be on his way in at the time and stopped to look at this, and that may be why the guy got back in his truck and left!

Actually, I recall asking this on two other occasions. In one case, the lady was the niece of our now deceased former president who was helping to clean up the unit (our president was a nice lady, but turned out to be a hoarder - that's how I found out) and the other person was marching towards the dumpster with a huge roll of carpeting. He said, "my mom lives here and she said it was ok." "No, it's not and if she lives here, she should know what the rules are." Before they left (muttering under their breaths), I told them about the local trash dump where they could take it and I guess that's what they did.

I do try to be polite but cautious in these situations because these days you don't know who's strapped!

It's Shelia, not Melissa! (usually, people confuse me with my twin sister, although we don't look alike at all!)

Anyway...we don't have an on-site maintenance person, but converting the dumpsters in this way is an idea. Considering how much extra the association has paid to other folks to haul off this crap, I could even see charging some sort of fee to load up the garage and then arrange to have it picked up the same day. Thanks for the tip!

For a split second, I thought to have an on-site person do periodic rounds around the community could help catch these people in the act, but I don't want anyone put in danger (too many people pulling out guns to shoot for silly reasons or because they flip all the way out). I suppose the person could photograph them in secret, but that might not work either.