Dumping in Boro Park a growing problem

In the wake of a growing epidemic of illegal garbage dumping that has taken hold of Boro Park, Assemblymember Dov Hikind is urging the New York City Department of Sanitation to crack down on those responsible.

In a letter addressed to Superintendent Adam Engleman of Sanitation Enforcement, Hikind asked that sanitation enforcement agents, “open trash bags to track down who the perpetrators are and issue a sanitation summons.”

The act of illegal dumping specifically “refers to someone transporting material in a motor vehicle, and dumping the material in the street or another public place,” according to Director of Digital Media and Communications for DSNY Belinda Mager.

Household garbage, some of which is not even contained in garbage bags, can especially be found in excess along some major commercial avenues, such as 13th Avenue in Boro Park. The bags are often torn, which allows debris to be scattered along the street.

However, “the law does not allow enforcement agents to ‘open trash bags to track down who the perpetrators are and issue a sanitation summons’ in improper disposal situations, unless they witnessed the event,” said Mager.

Accompanying trash bags and recycling bags that dot the street are various discarded objects, such as bicycles, unwrapped mattresses, appliances, construction materials, wooden pallets, buckets and baby carriages.

“Nobody likes to walk down the street and see an overwhelmingly large amount of trash overflowing into the streets,” Hikind said. “We must do our due diligence in tracking down and fining those who are illegally dumping their garbage. The people of our community deserve a better, cleaner community.”

Hikind also urged enforcement agents to review video surveillance from stores in the vicinity of the illegally dumped and/or improperly disposed of garbage, going on to state that, “The utter disrespect and disregard of a community and its residents by a few individuals should not go unpunished.”

Community residents who witness someone transporting garbage in a vehicle and then dumping the material may report the incident using DSNY’s Illegal Dumping Affidavit or Illegal Dumping Tip Form. Residents who do so may be eligible for a reward.