8
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, APR. 8-14, 2022 BXR
BY YESENIA BARRIOS
On a cold Sunday afternoon,
Mike Cintron is sweeping the
sidewalk in front of his home on
Rosedale Avenue in the Bronx.
The wind has scattered garbage
from piles of waste paper, household
trash, broken furniture and
used electronics that had been
dumped in alleys and on street
curbs and sidewalks throughout
the neighborhood.
For Cintron and his Bronx
neighbors, this is nothing new.
Throughout New York City’s five
boroughs, illegal dumping – the
unauthorized public disposal
of large amounts of garbage by
homeowners and businesses – is a
chronic issue.
Some neighborhoods suffer
more than others. The Bronx and
Brooklyn record the highest numbers
of dumping complaints, according
to The City.
The reasons people illegally
dump vary, according to the city
Department of Sanitation, but
lack of education about how to
properly dispose of some items
is a factor. Depending on the material,
such as construction debris,
homeowners and businesses
might be required to hire a private
trash removal company, and
many do not want to pay.
William Rivera, Bronx Community
Board 9 district manager,
says the problem has gotten worse
over the past few years.
“Illegal dumping has been happening
for years,” says Rivera.
“It’s been increasingly more difficult
because of the (limited) resources
that Sanitation and the
New York Police Department
have for quality of life.”
Rivera estimates that in the
last year there has been a 30% to
40% increase in illegal dumping
in District 9, with the neighborhoods
of Soundview and Castle
Hill seeing a significant increase.
According to records provided
by the Sanitation Department,
District 9 had the second highest
number of illegal dumping complaints,
after district 12 in 2021,
with 93 and 207 complaints, respectively.
In 2021, 5,951 “dirty conditions”
complaints were made to
311, a citizen hotline used to report
non-emergency problems
in the Bronx. Of these, 923 were
related to illegal dumping, according
to Sanitation Department
records. Budget cuts in fall
2020 that reduced garbage collection
from twice to once a week in
some neighborhoods of the Bronx
appears to have exacerbated the
problem.
Adding to the problem: The
Bronx is a natural target for both
homegrown dumpers and dumpers
from other boroughs, even
nearby suburbs. Major arteries,
including I-95, I-87, Bruckner Boulevard
and the Cross Bronx Expressway,
run through dozens of
Bronx neighborhoods. Residents
say that this makes illegal dumping
easy for anyone with access to
a truck or car.
Residents report that motorists
leave garbage along the
shoulders of these highways, or
on sidewalks, streets, in backyards,
empty lots and parks. Officers
of the NYPD’s Transit District
12 say they have found refuse
dumped next to their Morris Park
Avenue headquarters.
“It’s not healthy for people,”
says Magdalena Olivio, who lives
in the Bronx’s Parkchester neighborhood.
She said she called the
Sanitation Department multiple
times to complain about illegal
dumping and request removal of
garbage. The mess gets picked up,
but a few days later there is a new
pile, she says.
NOT JUST A QUALITY
OF LIFE ISSUE
Illegal dumping is not just a
quality of life issue.
It also can
cause serious
health problems.
From 2009 to
2019, the Bronx
was ranked the
unhealthiest county in the state
of New York by the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation and University
of Wisconsin Population
Health Institute’s County Health
Rankings and Roadmaps. Though
the report does not measure illegal
dumping, it does take into
account environmental factors,
such as cramped housing and air
pollution and their negative impact
on health.
Garbage can also spread disease.
Bacteria, insects and vermin
thrive in uncollected garbage
and can make their way into
people’s homes. Rats can carry
as many as 35 diseases including
Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome,
Salmonellosis and rat-bite
fever. Rats are also host to ticks
and fleas which can transmit diseases
such as Lyme disease and
typhus.
A wide range of health risks
are directly and indirectly related
to illegal dumping, says Markus
Hilpert, associate professor of environmental
health sciences at
Columbia University.
The health risks from inhaling
or ingesting toxic chemicals from
garbage can vary from a mild infection
to cancer, Hilpert says.
“You also have cardiovascular
diseases leading to elevated blood
pressure, heart attack/strokes depending
on the chemical to which
you are exposed. You can also
have respiratory diseases,” he
adds.
Illegal dumping in the Bronx isn’t
just ugly – it’s a health hazard
Illegally dumped garbage next to the NYPD Transit District 12 headquarters on Morris Park Avenue,
a common dumping area that can go uncleaned for weeks. Photo | Yesenia Barrios
Illegally dumped furniture off of exit 5 of the Bronx River Parkway
in the Van Nest neighborhood of the Bronx. Photo | Yesenia
Barrios