Environmental Progress - Spring 2000

Illegal Dumping New Video Subject

Agency's video unit produces educational video for U.S. EPA's Gateway Initiative

Along with the emerging dandelions and Queen Anne's lace, spring brings another perennial bloomer to Illinois roadsides and rural areas; water-logged mattresses, soggy sofas and worn out toys dumped in ditches or tossed into gullies by owners to avoid paying for proper disposal. Illegally "planted" year round, they become more noticeable when warm weather lures people outdoors.

This kind of open dumping is illegal in Illinois. Efforts to curb it are part of the Gateway Initiative, a U.S. EPA lead project also involving the Illinois EPA, St. Clair County Health Department, and other government and private sector entities. As part of that project, the IEPA's video unit recently produced a 16 minute video, "Illegal Dumping in St. Clair County," to increase awareness of the health and environmental aspects of the problem and acquaint people with available enforcement options.

Though illegal dumping of non-hazardous solid waste is primarily an aesthetic problem, it looks bad and sometimes smells very bad, it can also be a public health issue. Some of those threats are spelled out in the video by Ken Mensing, regional manager for the IEPA's Bureau of Land in the Collinsville regional office. "In summer, during hot weather, you can have flies and rats and all kinds of vectors" attracted to dumped items, he said, adding that the materials are sometimes ignited. "You've got plastic bottles, a lot of material with chemical residues in it that, when burned, release contaminants into the air that can be very dangerous or even carcinogenic. Contaminants can also run off into ponds, lakes or streams"

In addition to Mensing, the video features interviews with Penni Livingston, an assistant to the St. Clair County State's Attorney, a lieutenant in the county sheriff's department, an East St. Louis resident, a seventh grader, and an inmate currently serving time in the county jail for illegal dumping.

The U.S. EPA will distribute copies of the video to interested governing bodies and interested groups to urge stricter enforcement of existing regulations that ban illegal dumping.