Illegal Dumpers Strike on Block 832

At 10:45 p.m. Friday, a big pickup truck pulled up to our oversized garbage bin.  Two men got out and rapidly emptied the truck bed's contents into the bin.

 It was too dark to get a good photo from my window and I did not feel safe going out to get the license plate number. I suspected it was debris from construction, judging by the way the guys were hefting the bags.

The next morning, I went out with a bag of household trash and found the 6-cubic-yard bin filled to overflowing with heavy duty contractor's bags.

This bin and a 1-cubic-yard bin had just been emptied Friday morning. The bins serve three buildings, our 6-family, a 28-unit next door and a 12-unit alongside that one. The next pickup is Tuesday, so tenants will either have to hold their trash until then or, more likely, it will end up in the two recycling bins.

The specialized bags can hold up to 110 pounds of debris, including bricks and metal. I tried to move one and it was weighty indeed.

Of course, late on a Friday evening there was no PMUA inspector around, nor did I think the police would respond, even though the Plainfield Police Division and PMUA are joining forces to catch dumpers. The three properties were just sold to a Brooklyn-based company and one evening an employee actually did catch a dumper who dropped off a mattress just after the company had paid to have a large accumulation of trash removed.

So these incidents are a nuisance to tenants and an unwanted expense to property owners. I'm told there may be cameras installed, and I believe the city's surveillance cameras can help track down those who dump in municipal parking lots and streets.

The PMUA has a special advisory on illegal dumping. As it states, illegal dumping adversely affects the entire community.

--Bernice