HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Neighbors in Sunnyside say they are being turned away at a high rate from a residential waste drop-off site on Sunbeam Street, and that the rejections are leading to illegal dumping in the streets.
Workers at the facility told ABC13 off camera that rules and guidelines are in place. Those rules include allowing people to visit up to four times a month, requiring a valid driver’s license and utility bill, and a recent change limiting trailers to 10 feet or less.
Residents shared their frustrations at a council meeting this week.
“When I brought the first load, they said that’s good; when I brought the second load because I couldn’t fit everything at once, they said you only can come one time,” one neighbor said.
Another man described being turned away when he arrived with furniture.
“They said that I had to get the furniture off the back of my truck and then come back to the dump to dump the stuff that was on the trailer; I couldn’t be allowed to just keep it on the truck. That was number one,” he said.
He also said workers told him his trailer was too long and that he was not allowed to return in the same truck as his neighbor.
Residents say the high turn-away rate is pushing people to dump trash illegally.
“I think we need to look at some of the guidelines and the stipulations that are involved in allowing people to dump because what’s happening, consequently, when people come, and they sit in the line to dump, and then someone, you know, says that they can’t, then of course, they’re not going to take that dump material back home,” one neighbor said.
District Councilmember Carolyn Evans-Shabazz said she understands the rules exist to prevent people outside the area from using the facility, but she supports reviewing the guidelines to fix the trash troubles.
“We have tried to come up with a solution that could be a lot more immediate, which would be the rollaway can that can maybe take some of the pressure off of the location, because personally, I’m not sure if that location is big enough to be able to meet the needs of the people in that area,” Evans-Shabazz said.
ABC13 also reached out to Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s office for comment on the situation.
“That is a condition that we inherited,” Mayor John Whitmire said. “It was part of the broken Solid Waste Department. It’s all being addressed under the reorganization of Solid Waste into Public Works. The community will notice better operations, longer hours, and a very user-friendly staff.”
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