HAMLET — Two large piles of trash bags were spotted last week by a resident who pulled out his phone and documented the dump site while driving down the road.
That video was then sent to Richmond County Public Works Director Jerry Austin on Friday.
Austin estimates that there were at least 60 full bags of garbage between the two piles on the side of McGirt Road, just east of Hamlet.
Sometime between Friday and Monday afternoon, Austin said those bags were picked up by someone other than county workers.
Solid Waste Enforcement Officer Allen Hodges also recently spotted an old boat that had been dumped on Dave Kings Road, northwest of Rockingham.
Austin said it looked like the boat had been sitting around for years before being dumped, as the bottom has rotted out.
He added that there are no numbers on the boat, which will make it hard to track down who left it.
Austin said the county’s issue with littering is “a never-ending battle.”
Each month, County Manager Bryan Land updates the Board of Commissioners on how much trash is removed by county and state workers from local roadsides.
According to solid waste reports, 3.6 tons were collected in both May and June by the county and N.C. Department of Transportation.
County records show more than 30 tons of trash have been picked up from local roads in the first six months of the year.
NCDOT recently reported that 8 million pounds (4,000 tons) have been removed from roadsides across the state.
