INDIANAPOLIS – People who live near and frequent Broad Ripple Park are frustrated over a dumping problem near the recycling bins.
Kathy Gill emailed the CBS4 Problem Solvers asking for help. She said the first issue is that the recycling bins are constantly full.
“People will fill that up with boxes that haven’t been broken down,” she said. “When those things get filled up, people will just come and they’ll just leave it anyway, on the side.”
It’s not just recyclables that are left on the ground, either. Gill said people dump large items as well.
“Dump trucks come in the night and just put out a whole load,” she told CBS4.
CBS4 visited the area on several occasions. We spotted a mattress, chairs, a large fan, bags of bottles and more.
“It’s Broad Ripple Park!” Gill exclaimed. “It’s Broad Ripple Park. We don’t want it to be trashed.”
CBS4 contacted the City of Indianapolis about the problem. Hannah Scott, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, says they are aware of the ongoing issue.
“We don’t have the space to put a second bin there,” she said. “There just isn’t enough room.”
In 2019, DPW picked up 446 tons of recycling. Scott couldn’t say whether that was an unusually large amount compared to other locations.
Scott said DPW is working to redesign the signage they have at Broad Ripple Park. They want to educate people on how to properly use the recycling bins.
“Like making sure cardboard boxes are broken down,” she explained. “That’s a big thing because if people don’t break them down, that takes a lot of extra space.”
DPW is also asking that people not bag their recyclables.
“The processing center won’t open those bags because we don’t know what’s in them. We don’t want those employees to get poked or cut or anything,” Scott explained.
Public Works empties the recycling bins once a day. An employee also visits each of Indy’s 20 recycling sites daily to monitor the bin levels and any illegal dumping.