Dec. 19, 2001 – Litterbugs, beware: The Public Works Department now has a trash posse cruising St. Croix to make you clean up your act.
Through a $288,000 grant from the Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission, Public Works hired four litter-enforcement officers for the Big Island in late November. The officers have been trained in the territory’s lightly enforced litter laws, Wayne Callwood, Public Works commissioner, said, and they are packing ticket books.
"It is their duty to inform the public of these laws but at the same time to enforce them," Callwood said. "Over the past three weeks they have given numerous warnings — and, on occasion, tickets — to individuals and businesses in the community."
Anne Golden, the new executive director of the Anti-Litter and Beautification Commission, said the one-year grant covers pay, benefits and transportation. The litter cops have been sworn in by Territorial Court Judge Maria Cabret and are full-fledged enforcement officers.
"They are aggressively pursuing litterers," she said.
While Golden said she was excited by the new program, the realities are that it is funded for only a year and revenue generated from fines go into the government’s General Fund. Over the next year, Golden said, she will try to have fine revenues redirected back to the program in order to make it at least partially self-sustaining.
"Fines should come back to us … so we can pay for future officers. The grant should have made that clear," Golden said. "We need to work out where the money goes. If [Public Works] asks to do it again, I’d be inclined to do it if fines come back to us."
Among their other duties, Callwood said, the enforcement officers will be monitoring the public trash bins to make sure people are practicing proper disposal practices. He noted that business owners should contract local haulers for the pickup and disposal of their waste. Disposing trash generated by a business in a public container is a violation of the law.
Callwood also noted that the bins in Mon Bijou and Peter’s Rest are only for household goods, and items such as refrigerators, stoves, engines and dead animals are not to be placed in or by them.
"These items are to be brought to the landfill in a secured manner," Callwood said. "Businesses must dispose of trash only at the landfill, not at the dumpsters."
