- Last Friday, a city of Shafter crew could be seen on the side of Lerdo Highway cleaning up trash and it sparked the question: how much trash is there and whose responsibility is it?
- Shafter Public Works Director Mike James noted that calls for illegal dumping clean up aren't coming near as often, but when they do, the city is focused more on education as opposed to enforcement.
- Over the last two years, Kern County has used the Land Use Fee collections to allot funding to cities around the county to help clean up their cities. Over the last two years, Shafter has received nearly $230,000 to help offset the costs.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A little anecdote about this story, last Friday as I was driving on Lerdo Highway and I saw a City of Shafter crew cleaning up trash, leading me to wonder how big of a problem is it?
According to Shafter Public Works Director Mike James, the level of illegal dumping in the core of Shafter has been cut down substantially after the introduction of the three cart system last year. Though from time to time, they still get calls to go picking, but instead of focusing on laying blame, the city is focused on education.
“What's important to the city is education, because some residents and businesses may not legitimately know what's prohibited. And so we use the opportunity to provide that education and outreach and from that and that's one of the main reasons why we've seen a reduction in illegal dumping,” said James.
So how does the city pay for it? With help from the county through the Illegal Dumping Program Expansion. In an email from Kern County Public Works Assistant Director of Solid Waste Lisa Shreder, the county collects funds through the Land Use Fee to disburse to municipalities across the county to help alleviate some of the costs associated with cleaning up their areas.
Data provided by the county shows that Shafter received almost 230 thousand dollars to help clean up illegal dumping around the city. Something that helps the city be proactive in its approach to taking out the trash.
“When you literally have thousands of motorists traveling near illegal dumping, the Public Works department will air on the side of caution and get that material removed as quickly as possible,” said James.
I’m not trying to get you down in the dumps, but rather work towards solutions to help keep the trash from piling up…
In the email from Shreder, she noted that the county sponsors community/neighborhood clean-up events where they provide the tools to do the clean-up, all you need to do is organize it. At the city level in Shafter?
"The one thing that businesses and residents can do is to make us aware, if they detect or see a problem with illegal dumping, graffiti or something like that then report it," said James.
Continuing on with Shreder's written statement. She also noted one of the ways that community members can help alleviate trash on the side of the road just like this is by not overfilling their garbage cans or if you are hauling trash, by tarping the load.
Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:
