Informed Carlsbad public could put dent in trash problems

Education could be the key to help fight illegal dumping in Carlsbad and Eddy County, according to the Keep Carlsbad Beautiful Director.

Mary Garwood said her organization, the City of Carlsbad and Eddy County will host an illegal dumping workshop Aug. 22 at 9 a.m. at the Pecos River Village Conference Center

Garwood said the Illegal Dumping Partnership from Doña Ana County is assisting with the program.

Support local journalism. Subscribe to the Carlsbad Current-Argus. 

She was in the Las Cruces area Aug. 8 following Doña Ana County Animal and Code Enforcement officers with their cleanup and animal compliance outreach program.

“They split their departments up and do outreach for a few hours and give out warning citations,” she said.

“Whether its for code enforcement or animals not being spayed or neutered, micro-chipped our having up to date vaccinations. They go out and do that and they also follow up in 30 days and then write out real citations for people that haven’t complied.”

Besides checking animals, Garwood said the partnership sets up trash bins in certain Doña Ana County communities to target illegal dumping.

“They’ll set up dumpsters or roll-offs for easy disposal and normally it’s going to be at a community center or a park and they offer a roll-off for a day and there’s no charge,” she said.

More:What are Carlsbad and Eddy County doing about illegally dumped tires?

Garwood said in Carlsbad and Eddy County illegal dumping was prevalent for several years.

“We know it's happening. We want people to report it and we want people to come together,” she said.

Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway said the fight to end illegal dumping isn't just limited to Carlsbad and Eddy County.

"We want to thank Mary Garwood and everyone with Doña Ana County for putting it together," he said. "We're especially excited by an educational program featuring "Carlos the Coyote and Friends," which will focus on the importance of proper waste disposal."

Clean Up Task Force rolling

“We’ve had community leaders and those that are interested parties from all around Carlsbad come together and we’ve met twice so far,” Garwood.

The Carlsbad Cleanup Task Force was commissioned by Janway earlier this year and held its first meeting July 24.

More:Riverblitz a success: Trash removed from Pecos River

A second meeting took place Aug. 14 and Garwood said subcommittees were formed to explore the needs to take of care of trash in Carlsbad.

“One of them is education,” she said. “One of them is an ordinance subcommittee looking at some of the ways we handle our waste and litters and fees and fines and regulations for covering your (trash) loads. Even a plastic bag ordinance, that’s going to be considered.”

Garwood said the Task Force was charged to make recommendations to Janway and the Carlsbad City Council to take steps to reduce litter in the community.

“We need to have something where we’re not throwing money to just patch a problem. It’s actually taking care of it on the back end,” she said.

“Because it is an issue right now and we do get a lot of complaints. I would be lying if I said we didn’t.”

Janway said members of the committee have looked outside of Carlsbad for help in fighting the trash problem.

"(Chairperson) Dave (Sepich) was really been looking outside of the box on ways we can combine state and federal resources with local volunteer efforts while looking at existing codes," he said. 

Mike Smith can be reached at 575-628-5546 or by email at MSmith@currentargus.com or @ArgusMichae on Twitter.