Trash detectives hunt down Miami's illegal dumpers

Callejas, 39, said as he approached a mound of soggy mattresses and box springs strewn across the shoulder of Southwest 107th Avenue near Homestead. “Sometimes you’ll find an address.” Miami-Dade might raise trash fees for the first time in 11 years this fall, in part to send more crews out to collect the tons of garbage left along side roads by illegal dumpers. The closer you are to a landfill, the more illegal dumping you’re going to have.Santiago Callejas, waste enforcement officerCounty commissioners, who cite illegal dumping as a top complaint from constituents, recently gave preliminary approval to an extra boost in 2018 trash fees for residents outside city limits in order to pump millions more dollars into the county’s Solid Waste department. While Mayor Carlos Gimenez proposed a $19 increase to the current $439 yearly rate, commissioners endorsed a $25 increase as long as the added $6 per customer goes toward more clean-up crews. A final vote is slated for September. Miami-Dade would use the money to field four additional crews to remove the debris left by illegal dumpers, said Gayle Love, spokeswoman for the county’s Solid Waste Department. It typically takes the department four days to respond to a complaint about illegal dumping, according to budget documents, and the trash itself often lingers longer. With more clean-up crews, the county hopes to speed up the process. We tell them, ‘We’re not dumping. You can see it’s not coming from our church.’ They said, ‘You have to catch them.’ Isn’t that something?Rev. Richard Dunn, Faith Community Baptist Church The pile of mattresses that Callejas perused off 107th Avenue on a recent Tuesday morning had been there the previous Friday, too. Removing the debris doesn’t keep the roadside clear for long, he said. “They just cleaned this last week,” he said. “It’s a disgrace to our county,” said Joseph Bolufe, the supervisor of the enforcement division where Callejas works. “They can go dispose of it properly.” Instead, he said, “You see this here.” While most cities have their own garbage operations, Miami-Dade provides the service for areas outside city limits and a few cities that don’t have their own. Those are the properties that pay the $439 yearly solid-waste fee that’s sl... (Miami Herald)