A Valley man is tired of a "trashy" situation near his home.
“It happens all the time and I’m just getting tired of putting up with it,” says Austin Michael.
Michael an empty lot behind his home is where people go dump their trash and he’s fed up having to go clean it up.
Typically, there’s no way for him to know who dumped it or when. Last Tuesday, he came across another pile that was near his property and he dove in.
“It’s just gross the filth that is in there,” he said.
As he picked up the trash, he came across a few pieces of mail to an address about a mile away and decided he would return it to that property.
The homeowner came outside to see Michael dumping the trash out of his truck.
“He tried saying he was robbed and that it was somebody else’s stuff,” Michael said.
The man’s wife told ABC15 it was all a misunderstanding. “I just moved in here — just this week,” she said. “I have no idea how it got on their property, I have no idea!”
Finger pointing aside, the issue is about how trash is getting from one place to another in Laveen.
“There’s always a new pile somewhere,” says Kim Michael, Austin’s mom, “There needs to be more signs posted about dumping and fines on the signs.”
Ultimately to get anything done about trash, you must complain. If you come across a constant dumping ground, call the city.
If you come across someone doing it call the city. They can’t enforce anything they don’t know about and rely on the public to let them know about what’s going on in our neighborhoods.
The number to call to report someone illegally dumping trash is: 602-534-4444,
A City of Phoenix spokesperson said, they don’t have people patrolling the areas. If they get alerted to a trash situation, they will send out an investigator who will try to identify who dumped it and get them to clean it up.
If you have bulk trash you need to get rid of, the City of Phoenix offers free disposal at one of their many transfer stations for up to 1 ton of material. All you must do is show a utility bill to prove you live in the city.
For more information, you can check out the City of Phoenix website.
