Tires under bridges. Couches, appliances and bags of household garbage along roadsides. Dead carcasses in streams and rivers. Or candy wrappers, drink bottles and paper thrown out of car windows.
All these things are considered illegal dumping and littering, according to state law and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
It is a problem that continues to plague Leflore County. Residents see results of this illegal activity every day in their communities.
The EPA defines illegal dumping as "disposal of waste in an unpermitted area. It is also referred to as 'open dumping,' 'fly dumping,' and 'midnight dumping,' because materials are often dumped in open areas, from vehicles along roadsides, and late at night." Those same definitions apply to Leflore County and Greenwood, officials say.
- Dumping trends in Greenwood
Most illegal dumpers are going to dump in the city at night, said S.C. Perkins Jr., litter control officer for the Greenwood Police Department.
Problem areas are abandoned lots, parks and street corners, Perkins said.
"Dumping on empty lots - yeah, it's a problem. And if we catch them, we will give them a citation," he said.
He learn about instances of illegal dumping when people telephone him or stop him during one of his daily street patrols.
"I can't see everything," Perkins said. Therefore, it's important for people who see these problems to report it to him, he said.
"There is very little you can do unless you know who is putting it out there," Perkins said.
Mayor Harry Smith says littering is a "constant, ongoing problem, and it is totally senseless."
Garbage and litter control take up a lot of the city's resources. The money used for disposal of illegal littering and dumping could be better spent, he said.
"One of the big problems is that people don't put trash in containers properly," Smith said.
People put garbage in containers without lids. And sometimes packing materials such as shredded paper or tiny feather like pieces of plastic are put in dumpsters with no lids, he said. "When a good wind comes along, it scatters it everywhere."
Another problem is created when people throw trash from fast food places on onto the street, Smith said.
"It would take very little effort to stop this problem if everyone was conscious of what they are doing," Smith said.
- Problems in Leflore County
Most of the illegal dumps in Leflore County can be found under bridges and along back roads, said Sid Peacock, supervisor of the county's Solid Waste Department. "Bridges are the hardest to get up under," he said.
Peacock rides the roads of Leflore County each week, looking for illegal dump sites.
Found in most of the dumps are white goods - old appliances, such as stoves or refrigerators - or tires and contractor materials, Peacock said.
But Leflore County has grants to help dispose of white goods at the county landfill and tires at three locations in the county free of charge, Peacock said.
With all these grants in place, Peacock said, "I don't understand why we find it on the road."
"Anytime you dump something on the side of the road, it costs the taxpayers," said Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham.
But the county does have grants in place in the county for roadside dump cleanup, Abraham said.
Peacock and Abraham agree that illegal dumping has decreased since the county started mandatory garbage pickup in April, 1997.
The state law that requires single family residential pickup started several years earlier, and the county used another company to collect garbage at that time, Abraham said.
Despite city and county efforts to curtail littering and illegal dumping, it still exists.
And Leflore County farmer Erle West Barham is concerned about the problem - on his own property and elsewhere in the county.
As he rides along the back roads near his farm in southern Leflore County, Barham points out numerous illegal dumping hot spots, especially in the area of Roebuck Lake.
Illegal dumping has been a growing concern for him since he moved to the county in the early '90s.
Barham said he noticed the problem when he first moved to the area, but it really didn't set him on fire then. "But it grows worse and worse until you just can't stand it at all," he said.
What really brought the issue to the forefront for Barham was when he caught people dumping tires on his property. \
"I have pictures," Barham said. "We went and picked up the tires."
He went through the proper channels to bring the culprits to justice, but they didn't work, Barham said.
And as far as trash in other areas of the county, he said, "There is no problem seeing that there is a lot of trash. We've almost become immune to it.
"The problem is that there is no fear of consequences associated with littering," Barham said.
The dumping incident, which was earlier this year, was not the first, he said. Barham said he pulled enough tires out of Roebuck Lake to fill a 40-foot trailer.
"You go other places and see that other people don't live like this," he said.
The health risks associated with illegal dumping are significant, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The areas used for illegal dumping could be easily accessible to people, especially children, who are vulnerable to the physical and chemical hazards posed by wastes, the EPA says.
Illegal dump sites also attract rodents, insects and other vermin that may also pose health risks.
Illegal garbage dumps can be a big health problem, said Konsuela Glass, a public health environmentalist with the Leflore County Health Department. It can be a breeding ground for carriers of numerous viruses and bacteria, she said.
One of the worst viruses that can come from illegal dumping is the West Nile virus, which is transmitted from mosquitoes to birds, Glass said.
And with mosquitoes laying eggs in old tires dumped around area rivers and streams, Glass said, it could cause problems here.
During deer season, she has seen the remains of deer where people have cleaned them and left them there.
Then there are the dead dogs, cats and live stock that people throw into rivers and streams.
Illegal dumping can spread E. coli, salmonella, hepatitis and other bacteria, Glass said. It can also contaminate ground water.
Dump sites can also serve as magnets for additional dumping and other criminal activity, according to the EPA.
Property values also can decrease, and the community can become unattractive to commercial and residential developers, said Lisa Cookston, executive director of Main Street Greenwood.
Cookston describes the negative effect of illegal dumping on a community as "huge."
"That's one of the problems Main Street has to tackle," Cookston said. "One thing Main Street teaches us is that the way a town looks shows the attitude of the people who live there."
When trash is everywhere, she said, it makes visitors and prospective merchants and developers think the community doesn't care. "People want to go to some place that is clean and well taken care of," Cookston said. \
"It's a matter of community pride. Somehow other towns have tackled this and came out on top," she said.
"Just think, when potential industrial prospects come into the county, is the first thing we want them to see trash flying across the street?"
