ECTOR COUNTY, Texas — Illegal dumping is not a new problem in West Texas, but it is a big problem, literally.
Everything from tires to mattresses, fridges and more are being left in fields for county officials to clean up and dispose of properly.
The Ector County Environmental Enforcement team spends most of their days trying to catch the criminals who leave behind a mess.
“One of our most successful things is capturing them on camera, we hide them on very active dump sites," said Rickey George, director of Ector County Environmental Enforcement & Emergency Coordinator. "We move these camera every single day.”
Another way they catch criminals? Tips from Odessans.
“Keep calling us, keep taking pictures with your cell phones, keep sending us your home videos, because it pays off," George said. "We only have three guys on our team and Ector County is 900 square miles.”
George says they capture about 30% of illegal dumpers.
The county makes those dumpers clean up their mess, and then some.
“They’re usually getting a pretty good deal because we will minimize their charges if they’re cooperative," George said. "They’re going to have to clean up their mess and the messes we didn’t catch and then we post them remediating.”
George takes pictures of the illegal dumpers cleaning up, but he does not stop there.
He posts pictures of them cleaning up on the Environmental Enforcement’s Facebook page.
The posts have become quite popular, sort of creating an environmental enforcement fan club.
“There’s nothing better that the criminals in our society, who usually cost the tax payers money paying us back in labor and paying for their own mess," George said.
George says on average, Ector County makes illegal dumpers pick up and pay to dispose about 80 thousand tons of trash each year.
This saves the county about $4 million dollars a year.
Punishment varies for illegal dumpers who do not cooperate cleaning up their own trash.
Anything dumped over 5 pounds is a Class B misdemeanor. That misdemeanor could mean a $2,000 dollar fee and six months in jail.
Those cases who illegal dump for commercial purposes, penalties are doubled.
To report illegal dumping in Ector County reach out to the environmental enforcement team here.