One of senior sheriff’s deputy Tommy Berry’s more disturbing illegal dumping reports involved a deceased horse. “This has happened at least three times while responding to these reports,” Berry said.
Berry, who works for Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s Precinct 2, regularly monitors the phones and computer systems to pick up when complaints are called in and to track service requests for clean-up of illegal dumping sites submitted by residents.
Illegal dumping has been an issue in Houston for years, but it seems to be getting worse. Reports by residents within the first six months of 2022 exceeded the number of complaints in all of 2021. Although Mark Wilfalk, the director of the city Solid Waste Management Department, said these reports have slightly decreased since then, Berry disagrees.
“I am receiving calls constantly for services at these dumping sites, so I think this problem is still increasing,” Berry said.
Neighborhoods affected by illegal dumping are typically located in Northeast and South Houston, on dead-end streets, cul-de-sacs and dimly lit roads. According to Berry, materials that are thrown out can include anything from household objects — like mattresses and furniture — to larger items such as cars, RVs and boats.
“These are just discarded materials that people don’t want or maybe hire someone to come and remove from their homes and that person hasn’t chosen to dispose of those items properly,” Wilfalk explains. “They just find a place that they think nobody’s watching.”
However, the city has installed several surveillance cameras in areas with the highest number of reports. “Some cameras we have out in neighborhoods are a bit stealthier and more hidden, so you may not even know that they are there,” Wilfalk said. “Others are visible, because we want to deter this type of behavior happening in these communities.”
Wilfalk said the city plans to increase the number of these surveillance cameras soon, not only to curb illegal dumping from occurring, but to also attempt to trace who dumped the materials.
Most of the time, it is difficult to find the person or business that disposed of the abandoned items, however Barry says they are hoping to use cameras to get license plate information and find the dumpers. Just recently, Berry responded to a call about a vehicle that was left off Ramsey Road and located the suspect and previous owner of the car in Florida.
Because some of these items are larger or involve chemical waste products, clean-up is often difficult. To assist in this process, the city has partnered with one local contractor – Reach, Grab and Go – and is bringing on a second.
“Both will work to clean up those sites and be available for other services as we need them,”Wilfalk said, “But their primary role will be to help augment our services and remove some of the pile ups of debris at these sites.”
Wilfalk also hopes that with the assistance of these contractors, the response time to illegal dumping reports can decrease in length. “Before, the average response time to cleaning up these sites was around 45 days,” he says. “Now we are between 20 and 25 days, and my goal is to reduce that number to between seven and 10.”
The quicker these dumping sites can be cleared, the better, not only for the beautification of Houston, but for the health of area residents. When these clusters of miscellaneous garbage are disposed of, they not only pose a threat to public safety by attracting rodents, but because they can contain hazardous materials.
Depending on what is at a site, the city often has to separate the garbage and send to different landfills, as some objects and debris have toxic waste materials or fuel and other harmful substances.
“I guess some people just don’t want to wait for donation agencies or their own garbage pickup to come and pick stuff up, so they think it’s okay to just throw it away on the side of the road,” Berry said. “But what they have to think about is what can come from dumping these materials.”
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
