Trashy alleys: Whose job is it to clean them?

Living in South Park comes with the ongoing problem of litter and illegal dumping. What can we do to clean our alleys?

Easiest & Fastest: DIY

Rustle up your neighbors, bags, gloves and grabbers and clean up the alley behind your block or as much of it as you want. Fact: You are responsible for the trash, debris and broken glass to the midpoint of your alley.

• Bag it up and distribute among trash bins for the weekly pickup.
• Find a neighbor with pickup truck and haul it to Montgomery County Waste that day. You’re charged by weight, but it can be as little as $10-$15.
• Bulk pickup by the City is no extra charge, but you’ll need to plan ahead and schedule your cleanup to coincide with our Friday monthly bulk pickup.
• If you end up with a mountain of bagged trash, the City may be able to haul it away on short notice. Email a picture/call [email protected] 937-333-4948. Keep in mind their resources are limited.

Takes Planning & Organizing: Cleanup Event

Volunteer to organize a cleanup event for the entire length of your alley or the entire neighborhood with help from HSPI, the City of Dayton or Montgomery County.

• Plan ahead, and pick up free supplies at Montgomery County Waste.
• With 2 weeks advance notice and 10 or more volunteers, you can request the County’s Community Pride Cleanup Trailer. But you must also arrange with the City of Dayton to haul away the trash or plan to haul it yourself.
• With 3 weeks advance notice, you can organize a City of Dayton Neighborhood Cleanup. Tell the City where you’ll leave the trash, and it will be hauled away.
• With 4 weeks advance notice and 15 volunteers, ask the City for a garbage truck and two operators for a Saturday alley sweep. You direct the truck up and down the alleys you want to clean. Your team follows behind and loads the truck. Fill out a cleanup form and call 937-333-4948.
• The Historic South Park neighborhood council can call for volunteers and promote a cleanup event via social media and an email blast.

Living City Project & Earth Day Dayton-wide Cleanup

Working with the City and its many partner organizations, the Living City Project onboards hundreds of volunteers and reserves all the City waste collection resources for its annual citywide cleanup on Earth Day. The focus is on abandoned properties.

To take part, an organizer for Historic South Park would apply to Living City. They add our location to the City trash pickup list and their volunteers may choose to come help.

South Park also has the option of organizing its own Earth Day cleanup on a separate day using the usual City resources.

Prevention: Bins, Signage & Housing Inspection

• Bins in. Although few neighbors do so, keeping your bins on your private property helps prevent alley trash. When your bin is in the alley all week, it’s legal for people to dig through your garbage — and leave a mess for you to clean up.
• No Dumping signs and cameras. The City has a few signs available to loan out temporarily that say “Warning: Area monitored by digital surveillance” that discourage illegal dumping. They also have a few cameras they can loan out based on need. Call 937-333-4800.
• Catching a dumper. If you can get a partial license plate number and vehicle description, the City is happy to turn it over to the County Sheriff’s office.
• Report nuisance properties. For those continually garbage-filled yards that overflow into our alleys, please email our Housing Inspector [email protected] who will pursue the property owner.

Take action now. The longer the trash remains, the more trash it will attract. When a person sees litter and illegal dumping accumulate in one place, it gives the impression that it’s acceptable to litter there. Thank you for taking care of your property and your neighborhood!

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