June 28, 2005
banned from the dump
Six months ago, at about the same time that we pulled the wall down from the entrance hall, I got banned from the dump. This should’ve been posted months ago, but I needed time to get some perspective.
One of the particular things that I’ve noticed about our neighborhood is the a tendency for yards and alleys to collect old car tires. There are spots with 3 or 4 tires that suddenly have 10 or 15. There are areas that just have 1 or 2, but for months at a time. You will be driving along and then notice an abandoned tire between the sidewalk and road, in a place that had been tire-free before.
This perplexes us. With our 30+ years driving experience, we’ve had a few tires changed over the years. Not once have we ever taken the tire home with us, to discard somewhere close by. One conclusion is that the tires accumulate when people change their own tires to save money. I also have a suspicion that the auto shop on 25th across from Davinci’s has something to do with the flood of tires in the area.
Anyway, it was relatively warm over xmas break and I hadn’t started school yet so I had energy to burn. I decided that it would be nice to do some neighborhood cleanup. After cleaning the accumulated trash out of the alley behind our house, I grabbed the first 6 or so tires that I saw and headed off to the dump.
I knew before I went that they only accepted tires without rims, and that the tires needed to be placed in a special collection area. What I didn’t know was that they would only take 4 per day per person. The ‘Nam vet at the gate (license plate: NAPALM)(I’m not kidding) told that I wouldn’t be allowed to dump all of the tires. “Sure, sure”, I though to myself, thinking that they wouldn’t notice me empty on the way out… I’d driven a bit of a ways, I was tired, and I was doing a good deed — how could this break bad on me? Anyway, I dumped my load and my tires, but got busted on the way out. The gate man didn’t say much, but confirmed that I dumped all of the tires.
I went back soon afterward, and gate man stopped me at the weigh-in. He said that I couldn’t dump there until I spoke to his boss. I did that; the boss just tried to guilt me some more. I explained that I was sorry, that I’d learned my lesson, smooch smooch, etc, but the verdict came down: BANNED.
I’m not sure how long I have to stay away. I’m thinking that if it gets desperate that can always just another truck and it’ll be ok. There is another dump that I’m allowed to go to that is closer anyway, but they only take domestic trash and yard waste — no construction debris.
The good that came out of this is that we realized how much time we were wasting getting rid of the plaster and lathe that we were pulling off of the walls. One of the reasons that we’ve stalled a few times has been the need to clean up after ourselves. We know that when we get to the next round of demolition that we’re going to get a big bin and have someone else take care of getting rid of everything.
That’s so unfair! I hope things get resolved soon.
Is it a town or county dump? If so then I would contact your councilmembers and the head of whatever division controls the dump and let them know that you were just helping to keep the neighborhood clean. Send them a letter and send a copy to a local paper. That should get a reaction out of them. They should unban you.
Every town has trash issues. Some weeks, I have to make my trash attractive to the guys who pick it up. Are questionable things hidden? Are the cans too heavy? are things easy to grab? Is it allowed? Where I live, they are subcontractors, so the City has virtually no say over their actions.
I pick up bottles, pizza boxes and candy wrappers on an ongoing basis on my street- I cannot abide litter on my street.
Your story is like that old addage, “one good turn deserves another.” (irony here) I bet you’ll get it sorted though…good usually prevails.
I do what you do, too, Jocelyn. The kids who play basketball on my corner litter a lot, no matter how I try to stop them~ someday I’ll become a grumpy enough old man to just call the cops the minute I see them wheel out the net.
I ALSO make my trash pretty, PJ… just about every week. Five heavy cans every week, so I don’t blame the guys… and I leave them a case of beer on holidays ;^) Everybody likes to be appreciated, and these are the municipal workers that I REALLY rely on. The willingness they’ve shown to pick ANYTHING up as long as I make it conform to their rules has saved me hundreds of dollars.