Do you have this problem in the USA? Increasingly we have this problem in the UK . I live on the edge of a village , fields on 2 sides of the village , woodland the other and the beach infront and the environment around us is increasingly falling victim to members of our community and from other people from other areas coming to our quiet fields ,woodland areas and dumping their rubbish/garbage where they cant be seen doing this .
Its illegal to do this in our country but common place never the less. It causes environmmental hazzards and is a big threat to wildlife and to people and their dogs etc who use the countryside reponsibly to walk their dogs. I get so angry when I see this kind of thing. These fotos were taken less than 10 mins from my home today while out walking the dogs.
old tyres in a heap in the woods
tyres in the woodland stream
other dumped garbage
I dont know how rubbish/garbage collection works in the USA but in our country large item collections used to be free ,paid for as part of our annunal local authority taxes( costly ones)But they introduced rubbish collection charges on top of these taxes. £10 each for the 1st 3 collections for up to a certain amount of items rising to £43 for a 4th collection. The local taxes though did not go down .The response in our county has been a terrible rise in this dumping of rubbish , both industrial and household. While out walking previously I have seen what looked like a whole room cleared out , furniture included and just dumped at the access point to our woods. Someone locally had obviously moved home and rather than pay to have their excess belongings removed had just resorted to dumping it at night under the cover of darkness.
It is a sad situation which is blighting my county’s (fife) landscape and sadder still nobody takes responsibility and clears it away . The farmers dont and really why should they ? it maybe their land but its not their fault? The councils/local authorities wont either so the cycle goes on , it lies for months no doubt for years to come causing an eyesore and hazzard.. anyway , thats my sopabox for today , it just makes me sad.
Do you have any of this kind of thing in the USA?
What I see a lot in the USA is that people have larger properties and cover their own properties with their own junk. I’ve been to Julie & Mos’ property many times and it is impecable! NO trash/junk, at least not that I can see. However, lots of properties in the country have large areas littered with old equipment, farm stuff, and parts of vehicles. It always bothers me to see such a nice farm house and nice landscape but multiple trash heaps.
Here, at least where I live within the city, you pay for trash either from the city or a private service. Our duplex has a large trash bin which is part of my rent. They come on Friday morning and sometimes if I have an oddly shaped box I can put it next to the bin and they will take it. For large items you have to purchase a special ticket. For example I had to throw away an old refridgerator and the trash sticker was $10. I think some items are $5. You can also bring it to a recycling place and pay them, or maybe they will pay you if there are materials of value that can be salvaged. My dad and his friends have been collecting copper scraps from their construction sites to pay for a fishing trip. Some neighborhoods sponsor their own trash day where you can throw your trash in a large bin for free, you just have to bring a utility bill as proof of residence in the neighborhood. Also some of the parks rent a woodchipper after Christmas and turn your tree into mulch for free. We also have recycling services. In Grand Rapids it is free and they come every other week. You can recycle as much as you want as long as it’s properly sorted. They also have special bags for plant and yard waste.
That’s really sad, those tires, I bet they take a million years to break down on their own. I’m sure there are places that will recycle tires/rubber. In fact I think many schools here have playground equipment made of recycled tires and plastics.
Just when I was starting to think Scotland was perfect. You never see this in Germany do you?
You see some of this in the USA more in some areas then others. Liesje is right it is more common to see people who own property in the country turning it into a junk yard.
Lies, thanks for the compliment about our property, just don’t look on the backside of our building! Mos can’t throw anything away…I put things in the trash and he pulls them out. Sigh.
I am fastidious about my farm, and, if any neighbor throws anything over the fence onto my property, I go to their home and confront them about it. Sometimes walking the dogs isn’t so much about leisure as it is about patrolling the perimeter and making certain that my property stays pristine. I wish I didn’t have to be confrontational but if I don’t set a precedent then look out – garbage city! I was raised to never trespass without permission and to never throw so much as a gum wrapper on someone else’s property but I think I might be in the minority now.
Last year, I installed about a half mile of fencing along the road frontage of my property. I filled the pickup truck bed 3 times with papers, bottles and cans from the side of the road in just one half mile.
Recently, I took 2 analog tvs to the recycle center in Ann Arbor. I almost fainted when I was told that it would cost me 300.00 dollars to leave them there. Fortunately, I was able to recycle them elsewhere for free but most people do not have access to other resourses like me. Even if I couldn’t get rid of them, I would never just dump them on someone else’s property ever.
I hate what people are doing to your beautiful property. All that junk attracts vermin and makes it a dangerous eyesore. I wish I could offer you a solution.
LOL Julie I have looked at the back side (sort of) and thought “hey at least he puts his stuff in the BACK and not all over the front lawn!” It really isn’t noticeable, to me at least.
And Margot, I only saw a bit of your place and it looked nice, I liked the drive in. I bet it’s really pretty when it’s green.
When we lived in the…erm…not-so-nice neighborhood, people threw everything from trash bags to dirty baby diapers over our bush, and this was in the city! We also had an alley and the paperboy would through all the papers back there instead of deliver them so we’d have to go find one if we wanted it. The neighbors used to have these parties and throw all their beer cans off their balcony, so the next morning when they were still passed out us kids would crawl over the chicken wire and pick them all up for money.
Thanks for answering guys, and thanks for explaining how it works for you in the USA. I guess its something that always happened over here to a degree, you are always gonna get people who just don’t care and do this sort of thing without a thought but its definitely 20x worse now . I’ll take some more pics today for you when out ,for one relatively small woodland small area the rubbish strewn is bad 🙁 I really worry about the wildlife.
Having worked for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) I can say that people will trash even the most patrolled areas of our country. They have no shame! But there are groups that volunteer to come into the parks and clean, esp. along the roadways and highways. Maybe there is a group for your area (you never know til you look or you can start one up. Try your local youth/ church organizations, or even law enforcement for access to those serving community service) that will clean the park and turn some of those ugly old tires into something beautful like planter boxes, swings for children, or something else. It only takes one person to change this situtation….
That is just terrible. I hate to see those tires laying there – Lies is quite right, they don’t break down and the chemicals in them can easily pollute the ground they are on.
My family owns a large farm in southeastern Ohio (450 acres) and we have that same problem. People will dump whatever they can get away with. When I was younger, I often rode the farm on horseback. One of my favorite things to do was come hauling down a hill on a HUGE horse to confront trespassers and dumpers. My family works hard to keep our property clean and neat.
In our county, 4H (an agricultural-based program for children) is very popular. All the 4H groups have “adopted” various areas to patrol twice a month and pick up trash. It does help and it’s good for the kids to see this problem firsthand.
Thanks for sharing your views, you have got me thinking 🙂 I may go hunting and collect as many pics as I can and send an email to the local paper editor, they maybe able to highlight it and we could start the ball rolling and get something done. leave it with me and I’ll update you all 🙂
You go Girl! Looking forward to “the rest of the story”.