COLUMBUS, Ohio — Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said as the city grows, more trash is created and more money is needed to address it.
Under a proposed budget announced Monday, Ginther is asking city council to approve $16 million in trash pick-up.
During the pandemic, the city said trash collection increased 25% or 30,000 tons more than prior to the pandemic. The city said it is also addressing illegal dumping.
“If you throw a piece of furniture out and don't schedule it through bulk collection through the city of Columbus prior to putting it out that's illegal dumping. if you don't bag your trash that's illegal dumping,” said Tim Swauger, the administrator for the division of refuse collection.
The city said the Linden area is one of several hotspots for illegal dumping. Mary Penick, who lives in the Linden neighborhood, said she's tired of it.
“It makes the neighborhood look bad if people would keep up with the trash it wouldn't look so bad,” Penick said.
The city said thousands of 300-gallon dumpsters contribute to the problem because they are always out in public view, unlike the 90-gallon trash bins that people usually take inside. People will illegally fill the 300-gallon dumpsters with construction waste, leaving little room for people to put their garbage.
When the garbage spills over, it causes other problems.
“This trash also gets into stormwater gets into the rivers streams there is a lot of environmental damage beyond just the atheistic of living in the neighborhood with trash,” Swauger said.
In 2019, the city changed the city code giving it the power to go after illegal dumpers. Since then, the city has cited 120 people. There are also 26 hidden cameras across the city to catch people in the act
“Nobody wants to live like this. No one wants this trash in their alley, in their street,” Swauger said.
To help educate the public about illegal dumping, the city created websites where you can see where illegal dumping is happening where you live.
You can also how see many tons of illegal tires the city has collected.
The city believes spending millions of dollars on trash pick-up is money well spent.
“A clean neighborhood is good for everybody,” Swauger said.
Spending for the mayor’s operational budget comes without raising income taxes.
You can Ginther's full budget announcement here.