SCOTT COUNTY, Ind. (WDRB) – The Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) sent Scott County leaders a violation letter in connection to illegal dumping happening at several sites.
In Scott County, residents pay 75 cents for yellow stickers to identify their trash. Money collected from the sale of stickers goes toward paying for waste services. However, County Commissioner John Lizenby said many citizens aren’t doing their part and it’s hurting the county.
"A lot of people bring by their trash without the stickers so they don’t have to pay," Lizenby said. "And in the process, the honest citizens are paying for the people that are abusing the system. We’re over $13,000 in debt on this program right now, so we’ve got to get on top of this and make people do their fair share."Â
Lizenby believes many residents are dumping their trash at odd hours in order to avoid paying for stickers. He expects the small piles on Thursday morning to grow into mountains of trash bags through the holiday weekend.
Scott County has a landfill and four drop-off sites where people bring their trash. Lizenby said that is more drop-off sites than in any other Indiana county for its size. Each location has designated days and times to coordinate with the garage truck on site. It is a requirement that citizens put their trash directly into the dumpster, which is all stated clearly on signs posted at each location.
However, Lizenby said people are dropping bags of trash off at any time and leaving it in piles on the ground.
A trash drop-off site in Scott County, Indiana.Â
"What they’re doing is not only wrong, it’s illegal," he said. "Most people who do this probably don’t think they’re doing a big deal. That they’re just dumping trash off and we’ll be by to pick it up later. But it’s costing us money."Â
Deputies with the sheriff’s office are going through the leftover trash to see if there are any clues to identify people. Anyone caught dumping can be cited and fined on a local, county or state level. The instructional signs at each site list the local fine at $1,000.
There are also surveillance cameras at each site that are being used to identify people.
After the piles were observed earlier this month by a representative from IDEM, the department sent a violation letter to the county on Dec. 9. The county’s attorney is working to draft a response that is due within 30 days.Â
"There are two possible repercussions from the state," Lizenby said. "One is we could be fined, and we’d have to pay a big fee. And the second one is they could actually shut us down here.
"This is such a convenience for people here that they need to not abuse the system."
A trash drop-off site in Scott County, Indiana.Â
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