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An unanticipated problem apparently resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is the amount of garbage being produced by residents.
In Weirton, officials have said that not only are sanitation crews collecting more refuse from homes, they now also are seeing more illegal dumping sites in the city.
Part of that could be traced to the city's decision to postpone its annual spring cleanup -- because of the pandemic -- at which time residents have an opportunity to clear their homes of any broken or unwanted household items.
Now, instead of keeping hold of their large home items for a few extra months, some in our community have decided it is easier to simply toss them off the side of the road. Officials, in particular, have noted an area off of County Road and a spot along Greenbrier Road as popular dumping sites.
As a result, municipal crews, which are already doing more with less under current circumstances, are now tasked with additional work to clear these locations. This comes at a time when street patching, grass cutting and other seasonal work we often expect to see this time of year is ramping up.
Besides taking city crews away from tasks which might otherwise better serve residents, this dumping also is costing taxpayers at a time when everyone needs to be watching their expenditures more closely -- including government.
According to Public Works Director Rod Rosnick, the estimated cost of addressing one site on a single day last week will cost the city $2,000.
With multiple locations popping up, and needing to be cleaned on multiple occasions, those costs will add up, creating unneeded expenses and taking funds away from other necessary projects.
Whatever the reason for this dumping, we discourage our residents, whether in Weirton or surrounding cities, from disposing of their garbage and unwanted items into our community. Law enforcement is keeping an eye out, warning of criminal action against those caught dumping. Besides that, it just makes our town look bad.