South Miami-Dade is supposed to be a rural paradise, but many there are sounding the alarm.
They say illegal dumping is now so out of control their land is literally being trashed.
Everything from furniture, to family photos, you name it and it has probably been dumped here.
Kelly Strong: “It doesn’t end. It just doesn’t end.”
Kelly Strong lives near Southwest 280th Street and 107th Avenue.
He is sick and tired of seeing all of this trash now lining some of the land in his neighborhood.
Trash is even blowing into the road and slowing down traffic.
Kelly Strong: “I mean how lazy can you be when you can’t take a box and throw it in the garbage?”
But it’s not just boxes. Along 280th Street, Kelly showed us piles of home renovation debris, a toilet, and even this massive boat hull.
Kevin Ozebek: “Now have you ever seen a whole boat hull like this?”
Kelly Strong: “This is about the 20th boat I’ve seen out here.”
Kevin Ozebek: “You’re kidding?”
Kelly Strong: “Yeah, for sure.”
And no one may be more fed up than Sam Accursio.
Just look at all the trash along his pristine farmland.
Kevin: “How often do you come out here and see this?”
Sam Accursio: “Everyday.”
Everything from sinks, to dozens of bricks has been dropped on Sam’s property.
Sam Accursio: “Yeah, it is nasty out here. Some days I call it the wild, wild west. This isn’t the United States, you know? Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Sam is so furious, he has installed solar powered cameras on these telephone poles.
He’s hoping they’ll catch the crooks by capturing their license plates.
Sam Accursio: “We are fighting a losing battle, but I am not going to give up.”
And even though Sam didn’t make this mess, it’s his to clean-up.
Sam Accursio: “Because if I leave it here, the pile grows, and I’ll get fined for this.”
Chaveli Moreno is with Miami-Dade County Code Compliance.
Kevin: “Whose responsibility is it to clean that trash up once it is on a private lot?”
Chaveli Moreno: “Unfortunately, once it is on private property it becomes the owner’s responsibility.”
Moreno says the county is not looking to target landowners, but it does want to see all the trash being dumped removed.
Chaveli Moreno: “I know that they are victims, and it is unfortunate. But reach out to the department if you do get a warning. I would say reach out immediately because we will work with you.”
To catch and identify those illegally dumping, the county’s Solid Waste Department has set up cameras at known dumping spots, but Sam wishes the county would do more.
Sam Accursio: “I’m the task force, I’m out here seven days a week. Can’t stop it. I don’t know what to do.”
Kelly wants more action too.
Weeks after he showed us the piles of trash, much of it was still there.
Kelly Strong: “There is a solution. We’re human beings. Let’s figure out. You can send a man to the moon, but you can’t figure this out?”
The county has issued “civil violation notices” to some of the properties Kelly showed us.
But he worries even if this is all cleaned up, it will be just days before more trash is illegally dumped.
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