would you consider this "dumping" ?

[marko]

I don't see their nationality/ethnicity as having any relevance, and I'm a bit disturbed that you brought that up, and felt the need to quote my response as somehow related to that? My original comment was related to the behavior, no matter what other factors you might add.

Having spent half my career working in South East Asia I think the relevance is the difference in attitudes toward the neighborhood, environment and how to dispose of old property. Among other things.

For many from that part of the world, environmental issues are not part of the consciousness. From one of my hotel rooms I've seen trucks pull over on a causeway and four guys get out and just throw about a half ton of junk (tires, refrigerators, washing machines etc) right into the harbor.

It's a different world: I was in a taxi that ran over a woman on a bicycle. The driver didn't stop because "he'd have to pay for the bike".

OP might try to educate these folk on 'how we do it here' but it's a long hard slog sometimes when first world meets third.

 

[jazz4cash]

OP, do you have HOA? If so, I would contact them in addition to the county. Send them that pic. We have a civic association that is pretty diligent about these things, but not excessively. It's amazing how often the offender turn out to be renters that are not as interested in maintaining the property and it's difficult for the owner to take responsibility.

 

[foxfirev5]

It's dumping. Having owned vacant land in the past it is a pet peeve of mine.

 

[W2R]

If the trash is not on their property then I would consider it dumping.

+1

 

[jjflyman]

is that pic from your back yard view? That's crazy. Why did they dump it right behind your house? Drag that crap back to their yard.

 

[Walt34]

Am I overreacting?

If the trash is not on their property then I would consider it dumping.

No, broadway, you are not overreacting. It is dumping, plain and simple.

I'd be inclined to take jjflyman's suggestion and drag it back to their yard but that tends to lead to confrontations. Sometimes involving weapons. If you're feeling amicable you could try explaining to them that "that's not done here" but that's optional.

 

[Amethyst]

Um. My county has a very high %age of Indians and Pakistanis, and the ones I interact with are super-fussy. They have high incomes, expensive homes where they lift not a finger, and they would be livid if anyone so much as dropped a candy wrapper on their manicured lawns.

You have an HOA. Use it. Call the police if your neighbors get belligerent about it.

To be perfectly blunt, 90% of the neighborhood is South Asian Indians.
If I was to sell my house and price accordingly, the next buyer will be South Asian Indian and would not care about the dumping.

.

 

[retired1]

This is dumping and affects the value of the whole neighborhood. I'd report it too.

 

[steelyman]

What really stinks is that a problem not of your making (junk needing disposal properly) seems to have landed in your lap. Huh?

It reminds me of a book/movie called “Ragtime”. Those who know it will know what I mean.

As many have suggested, reporting to HOA/county is an option (a task dumped on you too). I’d be very annoyed about the situation and would not want to encourage future problems by doing nothing.

 

[Scuba]

I would absolutely consider it dumping and report it.

 

[Scrapr]

Is the property line where the grass ends? It's not much past there. That still might be his property.

Messy? I guess. Unsightly? Uh huh. Do I want to look at it? Nope. Not really my business if it's in his yard

What I might do is offer to help haul away some or all of it. You would not believe how many basketball hoops we haul off. And we don't even work for homeowners. I would tell a white lie and say I got a truck coming over to haul off some of my junk. You got anything I can throw on the truck? And go from there.

 

[Major Tom]

Um. My county has a very high %age of Indians and Pakistanis, and the ones I interact with are super-fussy. They have high incomes, expensive homes where they lift not a finger, and they would be livid if anyone so much as dropped a candy wrapper on their manicured lawns.

There's probably a fair amount of truth to the argument (made by other posters here) that cultural norms vary around the world. Amethyst's point shows that there are many exceptions to those "rules". To add to that, there are plenty of areas in the US, populated mainly by folk whose families have been here for generations, where the attitude to mess and junk is very relaxed indeed!

Perhaps it's more of a socioeconomic thing than a cultural thing?* Having said that, I know quite a few well-off folk who can't keep a tidy house to save their lives. I suppose you could argue that the well-off messy folk are more likely to pay someone else to clean up their mess for them.

I think we can all agree though, that people should keep their mess to themselves!


*Of course, culture is not homogeneous within most countries either. Different socioeconomic groups tend to have their own sub-cultures.

 

[HFWR]

Back in the goodle days, the primary form of recreation in SmallTownUSA was cruising “out in the sticks”, drinking PBR and smoking wacky tobacky. I always marveled, in a perplexed sort of way, that “No Dumping” signs were required...

Speaking of the aforementioned “dope laps”, on one lonely gravel road was a sign “No Dumping Aloud”...

 

[Amethyst]

So true! On our street, there are no HOA's (there was supposed to be one when we moved in, but it never got off the ground). There is a mix of economic classes, and some of the messiest yards belong to affluent folk, who moved here because they want to do things like park ruined Korean War military equipment in their yards, while pretending they intend to restore them.

There is an extended family up the street, who fit the stereotype of "rednecks" (I have seen their actual necks which are, in fact, quite rubiose) with ancient, non-running cars, trucks, buses and military surplus, surrounding a swimming pool that hasn't had water in it since before we moved here in 1990. Fortunately their houses (which they built themselves) are separated by several homesteads from ours.

There's probably a fair amount of truth to the argument (made by other posters here) that cultural norms vary around the world. Amethyst's point shows that there are many exceptions to those "rules". To add to that, there are plenty of areas in the US, populated mainly by folk whose families have been here for generations, where the attitude to mess and junk is very relaxed indeed!

Perhaps it's more of a socioeconomic thing than a cultural thing?* Having said that, I know quite a few well-off folk who can't keep a tidy house to save their lives. I suppose you could argue that the well-off messy folk are more likely to pay someone else to clean up their mess for them.

I think we can all agree though, that people should keep their mess to themselves!


*Of course, culture is not homogeneous within most countries either. Different socioeconomic groups tend to have their own sub-cultures.

 

[sengsational]

Why not just bring it to the curb next bulk trash day? Ten minutes and problem solved. Calling in outside enforcement seems crazy to me when a few minutes of time would fix it.

 

[timo2]

Clearly dumping. I've lived by lots of dumpers, and had to call the police on one. There is no reason to dump.

 

[Breedlove]

Understood...………..yesterday I made my weekly trip to the dump . Where we live it is 40.00 month for trash pickup and that is curbside . My driveway is 300 yards long . So we bag it and take it to the dump . I drive to the dump and as I drive down rte. 30 a pickup towing a trailer is throwing trash for 15 miles . We both go to the same dump . For my weekly trash it is 2.00 . I go tell the guy who was in front of me losing trash that he should tarp his load all he says is Oh...…
I hate this also and people who don't care should be forced to spend a Saturday picking up trash.

 

[Redbugdave]

Understood...………..yesterday I made my weekly trip to the dump . Where we live it is 40.00 month for trash pickup and that is curbside . My driveway is 300 yards long . So we bag it and take it to the dump . I drive to the dump and as I drive down rte. 30 a pickup towing a trailer is throwing trash for 15 miles . We both go to the same dump . For my weekly trash it is 2.00 . I go tell the guy who was in front of me losing trash that he should tarp his load all he says is Oh...…
I hate this also and people who don't care should be forced to spend a Saturday picking up trash.

I also take the trash each week to the dump. The roads within 5 miles of the dump are a landfill because of all the trash that blows out of PU trucks and trailers. People don't tarp their loads. I live in SC and frankly littering is the culture. It's sad. The Legislature earlier this year lowered the fines on littering as well.

 

[Big_Hitter]

that's ghetto - report them

 

[DAYDREAMER]

I also take the trash each week to the dump. The roads within 5 miles of the dump are a landfill because of all the trash that blows out of PU trucks and trailers. People don't tarp their loads. I live in SC and frankly littering is the culture. It's sad. The Legislature earlier this year lowered the fines on littering as well.

Our County in Washington state requires dump loads to be tarped, and if not, the Dump station is allowed to fine $10.

 

[SpinDr]

Looks like dumping to me. I always wonder about folks that take littering/dumping trash so lightly and are not willing to take minimal effort to throw stuff away.

I live on the coast and will often see a whole groups worth of fast food or meal trash just left sitting on the beach. A trash can may only be 15-20 yards away but they are not willing to take the effort to use it. Amazing to me.

 

[Redbugdave]

Our County in Washington state requires dump loads to be tarped, and if not, the Dump station is allowed to fine $10.

Washington State is about 2 decades ahead of SC. That is a good idea and I may write an editorial in the paper and mention that.

 

[calmloki]

I'd be irked. We have rentals so I'm no stranger to people doing messy slob stuff. Seems like the best thing to do is take care of the problem. In a similar situation I clean up the mess - not in a timid or quiet sort of way. I also collect shopping carts from parking spaces and use them and pick up garbage thrown in the pathway I walk. Purely selfish motives. I like usable parking spots and a clean view ASAP. I don't bother reporting stuff but have no desire to live in a HOA controlled environment either.

 

[meleana]

Definitely dumping. I would be livid! This is why I never wanted neighbors. Only recently a builder bought the property next to our 10.5 acre lot and put in a driveway with a culvert and now I am dealing with water coming over to our property and pooling at our culvert- destroying some of the blacktop edges- running down alongside our driveway, pooling around our trees and a utility pole and then running into a brook- wearing out the banks of the brook. But the town and DEC say it is my culvert that is clogged, despite the fact that plenty of water is coming out the other end with no issue! Really? In 31 years we never had this issue until the builder put this driveway and culvert in, which is very close to ours. Meanwhile- the builder only works on the property occasionally and after several years there is still no home on it- just a big mess of felled trees and rocks and dirt.


BTW- I cannot figure out how to post a picture here.

 

[WWDog]

I walk my neighborhood for exercise, to pick up trash, to note people who are not neighbors for future reference (give them the eyeball to let them know I am there), and to look for evidence of things going on that could be a community wide problem. On occasion I find something that was dumped or escaped the trash. If I know who the trash belongs to, I pick it up and leave it on their door step. If it is a careless mistake, I leave a note kindly asking to secure their trash. If it is purposely littering or dumping and I know who it belongs to, I leave a note to please not litter and state "Make your neighborhood the neighborhood you want to live in." Sometimes you can find out who the trash belongs to by examining it for names addresses etc. Sometimes it is something that the person doesn't know they have lost it and returning the items is something they are grateful for. If an item is of value and there is no way to identify who it belongs to, I use the neighborhood email system to notify the an item has been found and can be claimed by calling my home phone. I even noted one time a young man in his car throwing rotten meat into the woods. I noted the car and the license plate number. Then I found the car in my neighborhood and asked some people sitting outside who the car belonged to. This was a group of people who had emigrated to the US. I explained that the rotten meat was not good for the animals he might think he is helping and definitely not in the best interest of the community. Those people responded that they knew who had done it and would take care of the problem. It was taken care of. The best part of all this is that my neighbors see me collecting the litter and the amount of litter has decreased over time due to their knowledge that someone does care about what the neighborhood looks like. Now regularly, neighbors stop and thank me for what I am doing. The solution is to help change the culture and gain pressure from those who want a great neighborhood vs the ones who trash your neighborhood. If you do note something that signifies larger problems, notify the police. In one instance it resulted in apprehension of someone they were looking for.