Illegal garbage dumping in Konz
Konz, January 29, 2025
Old tires on the bike path, mattresses in front of the used clothing container, diapers in the public trash can or used oil bottles in the organic waste. Recently, more and more garbage in Konz is not being disposed of in the way it should be. This not only frustrates many citizens, but also the employees of the municipal building yard.
Although it is part of the public works department's job to empty public rubbish bins, clean streets and maintain green spaces, the sheer amount of illegally dumped or discarded rubbish is taking on new dimensions. Employees report that new rubbish is often found in the same place just an hour after a rubbish dump has been removed.
Photo: A few hours after the “cleanup”, illegally dumped garbage is once again at the container site in Güterstraße.
The figures from last year illustrate the extent of the problem: every week, two large truckloads of illegal waste were collected by hand in the city and its districts and then disposed of properly. In addition, over the course of the year, more than 400 old tires, around 1,000 small electrical appliances and 40 larger appliances such as refrigerators, washing machines and ovens were collected.
If you convert the hours needed to collect the illegal waste into staffing levels, three full-time employees do nothing else. This is paid for by the taxpayer. Last year, the city had to spend around 180,000 euros on personnel costs; in addition, there were disposal costs of around 20,000 euros.
To counteract this development, the city appeals to everyone: Please dispose of household waste in the household waste. If the glass containers at one location are full, please take your bottles to the next location. Bulky waste, old tires and electrical appliances can be taken to the recycling center in Mertesdorf or Trier. For many types of waste, it is also possible to have them picked up from your home by ART, provided you register in advance.
Video surveillance is currently prohibited by law as a measure against illegal dumping of rubbish. Setting up dummy cameras in public spaces is also not permitted. A pilot project for video surveillance is currently underway in Ludwigshafen in cooperation with the state data protection officer. The reason for the legal exception was the immense, health-endangering dumping of rubbish, which in some cases attracted rats. Mobile surveillance is now being carried out on a trial basis at changing locations using special cameras, subject to strict conditions. An evaluation of the efficiency of this surveillance is still pending.