ALCOA, Tenn. (WATE) — The City of Alcoa is asking residents for help to keep their community clean. With illegal dumping on the rise, the public works department is asking citizens to report sightings of trash to the city.
“Some of those items shouldn’t be there. Some of them come from outside the city, and ultimately, we’re trying to limit what those things are because all of it goes to the landfill and the city ends up paying the bill for that,” said the City of Alcoa Director of public works and engineering, Shane Snoderly.
Assault caught on video spurs Alcoa Police to urge people to lock their cars Snoderly said illegal dumping is when non-residents dump trash either on someone’s property or on the side of the road, and while residents aren’t the problem — they’re footing the bill.
“The city residents pay the tipping fee when it goes to the landfill, and so it’s costing our citizens money when people bring those things in,” he said.
He said typically people dump either large brush items like roots or tree limbs, or bulky waste like tires. Since they have recently acquired new sanitation trucks, he says they are trying to reinforce their policy.
Knoxville tennis star and Vietnam veteran shares what his service taught him “We’ve been putting signs out. We’ve actually been knocking on doors; we’ve put some notification fliers out on garbage bins about things that can’t be accepted on the side of the road. But it’s just been across the board, a community kind of communication that we’ve been trying to do to educate our folks,” said Snoderly.
In educating the public, he hopes this helps people in the community identify illegal dumping and report it.
“The residents see where some of these things get left for us to pick up. And if they see those things, then, you know, please call us, call the police to try to stop — limit what is being put out there,” he said.
▶ See more top stories on WATE.com Snoderly also said this has been an ordinance for a while now. They have started to see an increase in illegal dumping as more people move to East Tennessee, which is why they want to raise awareness about what is legal and work together with the community.
They say to call the City at (865) 380-4800 to report a sighting, or email them photos at publicworks@cityofalcoa-tn.gov.
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