Piles of trash causing problems in Calhoun County

CALHOUN COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – Illegal dumping is a problem across the state.

One sheriff said the problem is really piling up in his county and he’s doing something about it.

Recently, Calhoun County Sheriff Greg Pollan took the issue to Facebook.

He made a post about it on the sheriff’s department’s page and his personal page.

He said the goal is to bring awareness to the problem and shine light on the effort and time it takes to clean it all up.

When you look around you see there’s growing piles of trash problems.

A couch, a mattress, TV’s and other items meant for people’s homes, not side road decoration or trash.

This county road in Calhoun County is beginning to look more like a landfill.

“One day last week, the crew actually picked up a love seat that someone had thrown out or it fell out of the truck, you know, so yeah, and we have picked up a couple of refrigerators in the past. Mattresses, you know, large items, but mostly it’s litter that is being thrown out. Cups, paper bags, that type of stuff.”

The problem gets dumped onto the county’s litter program crew which is made up of inmates and a director.

They call it the paper chase and they’re at it eight hours each day.

This post was made last week, after the chase seem to never end.

“That day was one of those days for the guys where they had picked up over 100 bags and one day, I think it was 120, 125 bags plus the love seat and Micky, the guy that runs the program for me, came in and he was just like, just disgruntled, and he was like, ‘it feels like I’m making no progress,’ and it’s every day.”

This area defines illegal dumping and shows a clear picture of what we call a bad littering problem.

However, it’s not the only dump spot for litter bugs.

“One of the problems of it is this is a big county it’s 600 miles. By the time Micky gets caught up, or gets twenty of them done, it’s time to start over and do those twenty again. So, it’s like there are some roads he can’t hardly get to, so we have to pick and choose the ones that are the worst and try to get those, but we do the state highways the most.”

Pollan is pushing for people to be more proactive when it comes to keeping the county clean.

“There’s a dump station that the state and county provides. Why wouldn’t you utilize that? Most of the towns have recycling bins you could use those, so why you would just throw it out on the side of the road is beyond me. I have no idea.”

Pollan said if you’re caught, or deputies find out you’re littering or dumping trash, you’ll be fined and he said those fines are pretty steep.