Three days after a sponsored community cleanup for residents of Ironton, people are still discarding debris and other unwanted items at the South Ironton Industrial Park.

The Lawrence-Scioto County Solid Waste Management District in conjunction with Ironton Municipal Court put the clean up together in hopes of beautifying the city.

“We put this cleanup together to try and make a dent in the trash problem we have here” said Dan Palmer of the Lawrence-Scioto County Solid Waste Management District. “We let people come down here and drop off their garbage most of last week but that was supposed to end on Saturday.”

Instead, items including sofas, recliners and televisions have continued to be dropped off, overflowing the containers placed at the industrial park, causing an eye sore according to Tim Collins of the Ironton Municipal Court’s community service program.

“It’s just a mess, and it looks bad,” said Collins. “So now we have to clean it up all over again and try to get these containers out of here quickly to avoid more dumping.”

It is also going to cost money to remove the newly jettisoned items, as a new container will have to be purchased for the excess refuse. A cost that Lawrence-Scioto Solid Waste Management will have to cover, Palmer said.

“We’ll need a new container for all of this (trash)”, Palmer said. “That’s going to be $400, and my department will be the ones who have to pay it.”

Collins says that trash, especially in the alleys of Ironton, is a major issue for the city, as it becomes unpleasant to look at as well as offers a breeding ground for rodents and other vermin.

“There is so much junk in some of these alleys” Collins said. “I’d hate to think about the rats and snakes we’ve got crawling amongst the filth.”

Ironton does have a city ordinance against improperly disposing of trash, but according to Palmer it is simply not enforced.

“They’re not supposed to be allowed to just dump stuff in the streets,” said Palmer. “But no one really enforces it so they get away with it. As long as they get away with it, they’re going to keep doing it.”