Why Do So Many New Yorkers Dump Mattresses and Other Household Items?
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 1/14/2015 1:00:00 AM
If you drive around any city, you will eventually find a place where people dump mattresses and other household items. Did you ever wonder why? I did. Now I know.
Like many other cities, garbage services are essentially free to residents, paid for by tax dollars. If it's free, why on earth would somebody take the time to strap their mattress on their car, then dump it on the side of the road? Believe it or not, they simply didn't want to risk getting a ticket. Yes. That's why.
Although you might think there's a bigger risk getting caught dumping the mattress on the side of the road, the fact is, there's an even bigger risk of getting a ticket throwing it out in front of your house.
Here's the issue in a nutshell. Because the city essentially offers free sanitation services for residents, none of the residents have a relationship with a private sanitation company to take away the things the city won't pick up. If you put those items out by the curb, not only will the city not pick them up, but they will often leave you a ticket for $100 or more.
To make matters worse, the city will pick up some items, but only if you follow their rules about how to put them out. For example, I walk my dog twice a day, so I often see what people throw out... and what the city leaves behind after the trucks go by. There are actually three homes that I pass every day that have a mattress leaned up against the side of their house. All three of those mattresses at one point were placed curbside, and left behind... again and again, until the owners finally pulled them back and leaned them against their homes.
I've seen this happen again and again, because the city doesn't pick up mattresses, unless you place them in a giant plastic bag. If you don't have a bag that size, don't bother putting it out. The fine is over $100.
So, right now, all three houses have had their mattresses on the side of their houses for more than a month. By now, I'm sure they've become waterlogged and are starting to smell. What do you think they will eventually do with them?
So, as Chris Rock would say... I'm not saying they should dump them... but I understand.
The list goes on.
A month ago, another neighbor was cleaning out his garage. He took out about 10 cans of old paint, removed the lids and filled them with kitty litter to absorb the old paint. He neatly lined up the cans with the open lids so the Sanitation Inspectors could see there was no wet paint inside. They left everything.
I once threw out an area rug. I rolled it up, then folded it neatly next to my garbage. The next morning I got a $150 ticket for putting out loose waste. I took photos that showed how neatly I rolled and folded it, and went to "Sanitation Court", where I met a bunch of housewives, homemakers and senior citizens who decided to fight their tickets too. As we waited our turn, we shared our stories. These were not illegal dumpers, they all put their trash outside as good citizens, and were issued a summons.
As of January 1, 2015, it is now illegal in New York City to throw away a TV, or other electronic device. While I understand their motive is to encourage people to recycle many of the parts inside those items, the fact is, making it hard for people to throw things out will only have the effect of increasing the amount of illegal dumping. What do you think will happen next time somebody gets a $100 summons for throwing out their old computer?
I think by now you can understand why many people think there is a smaller risk throwing their household waste on the side of the road... I'm not saying it's right.... but I understand.
What can be done about this?
Issuing a fine doesn't solve the problem. Anyone who gets a fine throwing something out in front of their house still needs to get rid of the item, and that ticket could be an invitation to dump it. If those items get dumped, it will cost the city more to pick them up on the side of the road.
Treating homeowners as criminals for the way they throw out their waste is not the solution. Instead of a summons, simply leave specific instructions detailing how to legally dispose of these items. Otherwise, a homeowner will actually consider illegal dumping as the easier solution when they have something to get rid of.
The city should also give people a way to pay a small fee to have those items properly picked up, and an even smaller fee to drop off items. If it's something they can't pick up, just let people know who to contact. As long as people know how to do things legally, they won't consider illegal options.
As long as I'm venting about mattresses...
If you're not from NY, you'll get a kick out of the reason why they require you to put mattresses in giant plastic bags... they created this rule to trap bed bugs. How stupid is that?
Let's assume a house has bed bugs, what difference will the plastic bag make? The mattress will be tossed into a truck, then crushed by a giant hydraulic compactor that will tear that bag to shreds and compress it along with at least 20,000 pounds of trash, including countless diapers, dog poops and other filth too nasty to list here. Why bother?
The funny part about that regulation is that it requires you to wrap your mattress in a bag... but assuming your house has bed bugs, so do many other items in your home like sofas, pillows, chairs and other furniture, but none of those require bagging.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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