Bloomfield hillside cleared of items dumped illegally
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Ali Nafees, 15, of the Republic of Maldives carries discarded items. Behind him, Mohamed Sadique, 15, of Sri Lanka puts trash into a plastic bag. StashTheTrash.org conducted a cleanup in Bloomfield with students participating in Magee Womancare International South Asia Youth Summit.
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A gutted computer tower rests precariously on a frayed armchair, only feet from a destroyed electronic typewriter. The items are among piles of junk that stretch more than 40 feet, collected from a popular illegal dumping site in Bloomfield.
"That's about 2 1/2 hours of work," said Derek Green, president of local cleanup group StashTheTrash.org.
He helped organize about 30 volunteers to clear the hill at South Mathilda and Aloe streets Monday morning. The trash included about 20 tires, four shopping carts and a rusted water heater.
StashTheTrash.org is two years into its five-year goal of cleaning illegal dump sites in the East End. The Bloomfield site is the 30th dumping area the organization has cleared.
Boris Weinstein was among the volunteers in Bloomfield. As chairman of the Pittsburgh Clean Committee and Citizens Against Litter, Mr. Weinstein calls illegal dumping Pittsburgh's greatest problem.
With a ballpark figure of 1,200 illegal dump sites, Pittsburgh has a lot of problems.
Mr. Weinstein said one of the biggest factors in illegal dumping is the land itself.
"The topography of Pittsburgh lends itself to construction companies and individuals making this stuff disappear by throwing it over the hillsides," he said.
The role of residents is crucial in reducing trash. Mr. Weinstein said the public can monitor the sites and call police when they see someone dumping trash.
Jeffrey Koch, streets program supervisor for the city public works department, said the city will try to track dumpers by sifting through trash and looking for names, but monitoring the sites is more of a community effort. He urged neighbors to write down the license numbers of those who choose to chuck.
Most of the volunteers at the Bloomfield site were students from Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Republic of Maldives who were participating in Magee Womancare International South Asia Youth Summit, a program that exposes students to American culture.
First Published May 10, 2011 12:00 am
