SPOKANE, Wash. – Hillyard homeowners are upset after they say someone drove down their alleyway and dumped their garbage.
Surveillance video shows the trailer they’re hauling their garbage on was not secured. A report with Community Oriented Policing Services (C.O.P.S.) has been filed, according to the couple.
“It is frustrating because there’s a lack of common respect for community,” Kim Abrahamson, a homeowner on the alleyway, said.
It was this weekend that a truck with a flatbed trailer sped through the alley, according to Abrahamson.
“I think they just took the truck for a drive and hoped everything would land somewhere,” Abrahamson said. “Doing about 45 miles per hour going down a muddy, dirty alley, and there were bags flying, and further down the alley, there were TVs.”
On Tuesday, glass was lying in the dirt, liquid bottles in the puddles and ripped trash bags lined the road like the interior of a waste facility.
“We’re very familiar with filling out the online complaints and letting the city know that there was a dumping incident,” Abrahamson said.
In fact, Abrahamson says someone dumps their garbage in the alley at least two to three times a month.
“The worst one was when people dumped off their bio waste in utility buckets,” Abrahamson said.
This problem is not exclusive to this alleyway. In Washington State, 40 million pounds of litter accumulate every year.
“Our litter study did show that we have slightly more littler per mile than the national average,” Amber Smith, the statewide litter prevention coordinator for the Washington Department of Ecology, said.
Every year, Washington State taxpayers pay $12 million for the state to clean just a fraction of the litter.
“Unsecured loads are a real serious road safety issue leading to multiple accidents and preventable fatalities,” Smith said.
This comes as the Washington State Patrol sent out a press release, urging people to secure their loads.
“Hey give a hoot. Don’t pollute. We grew up with this. This is our home, this our community,” Abrahamson said.
