With the proliferation of illegal dumping taking place at both the Western Washtenaw Recycling Authority front gate and the recycling site on Old Manchester Road, one citizen has seen enough.
WWRA Board Chairman Frank Hammer said that “an irate citizen has offered a $250 reward for the identification and prosecution of anyone found illegally dumping,” on WWRA property. And, there is an addition $1,000 for illegal dumping.
Recently, employees have found 13 garbage bags, 23 televisions, four tires, an exercise bike and a lawn mower dumped at various WWRA sites, he said.
“The tires alone cost WWRA $40 to get rid of,” Hammer says, adding that officials have to drive these items to another facility so that means paying for gas and man hours to get rid of this trash.
In addition, “This costs everyone because the money is taken out of operations and impacts every taxpayer in member municipalities,” he says.
WWRA has a $2.7 million bond to pay for the new single-stream recycling operations and officials plan to pay off this debt in 9-10 years.
Township member municipality residents pay $50 a year ($24 for the bond, $26 for operations), while Chelsea residents pay $100 per year ($56 per year for the bond and $44 for operations).
If you are in Chelsea and see illegal dumping, try to get a make and model of the vehicle and the license plate number and report it to the Chelsea Police. If you are in one of the townships, please report this information to the Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department.
