Trash Being Dumped in the Ditches

By Lori Young
Someone has been dumping garbage in the ditch (281st Ave.) near Grey Eagle and local residents are requesting that they come back to pick it up.
Area residents try to keep the ditches clean and find this very disrespectful. In the photo above, it started as a neat little pile until people started rummaging through it. There is also a bag of garbage under the snow.
It is bad enough to have pop bottles, beer cans and beer bottles in the ditches, along with other debris flying out of boats, trailers, etc., but intentionally dumping garbage and making it other people’s problems is not the right thing to do.
Others have shared stories of trash being dumped into the ditches. On County Road 2, west of Lakeview Cemetery, local residents had the ditches cleaned up before Memorial weekend to find several large black bags filled with grass clippings dumped in the ditch. Once the grass was tall, the bags were hidden and were hit by the highway department when they mowed the ditches.
In the past, Grey Eagle Township had to hire services to remove garbage, appliances, and furniture from the ditches on Ascot Road. Many townships and organizations end up paying the price to remove the items. This past fall, the DNR reported tree stumps that were dumped in the boat landing down on Hunter’s Bay, creating a hazard to anyone using the landing until they were removed.
Those who are littering do not realize the effects it has on others.
As farmers head out to the fields in the spring, debris has to be picked up or it can damage their equipment. Same goes for the highway department. It takes time to clean up behind others and can become very costly.
It also becomes a safety concern for those who like to recreate by snowmobiling, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, etc. Soon spring will be here and more people will be out walking and biking, broken bottles can be found on a number of area roads.
Instead of dumping garbage or throwing items out of your vehicle, think of others and help by picking up trash along the roads and in the ditches. Let’s keep our areas clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.