Does anyone know why the dump will not allow you bring your discarded cat litter to the center with the rest of your trash?  How are we supposed to dispose of our cat litter?

How are you trying to dispose of it?  Just a thought, but we have dumped it into a black plastic trash bag, then put that trash bag down into the bag with our household trash.  That way, if they really want to go through the bags, they can, but I doubt they will.  Hope that helps.  On a side note, has anyone noticed how they are getting more and more strict with the decals at the dump?  I know I wouldn’t care if someone from out of the county was dumping their trash there, at least it wouldn’t be on the side of our roads, right?  ;-)

I had been purchasing the stickers for the bags and having them pick up my trash.  However, with the ever rising gas and food prices I was going to make an attempt to save a little money in as many ways as possible and this was one attempt.  However, there is a sign up at the dumpsters saying “no cat litter” and no “dog Litter”  (I have no idea what dog litter is by the way) 

I usually place my cat litter in a plastic Wal mart bag and tie it up, put another one around that one and place all of them in a larger kitchen size bag.  I have a lot of cats and usually have one kitchen size bag per week.

I guess the key to it would be not to ask them if they will take the cat litter or abide by the sign but go ahead and hide it and get rid of it. 

Just seems like I should have a right to get ride of my cat litter in a legal manner.  I can’t figure out why cat litter would be singled out as a no-no.  Has other cat owners not complained about this before?

Instead of asking and abiding by the rules I will definately hide it from now on.

I agree with you, I’d rather see the trash in the dumpsters from those who don’t have the proper decals than to end up having to look at it on the side of the road.

Although the county convenience centers are contracted out to a trash company, the county still is in-charge.  call the county administrator’s office to complain. 223 6020 i think.

I’m glad this subject came up.  I use the center up on highway 52.  I’ve seen the signs that say no cat litter and no dog poop and wondered why too.

A few issues I have with this center are as follows:

1.  Just about everytime I go there, traffic is backed up onto highway 52 with the center attendant talking to someone while everyone else has to wait.  I’m concerned that someone will get run over on the highway.  Mainly me.

2.  The attendant is always eye balling my trash bags to see if I have aluminum cans in them as he saves them.  He once even told me I need to save the cans and bring them to him.  Well, I don’t save them because they attract ants, etc… and if I did save them, I would sell them myself.  I now use black trash bags vs white one’s so he can’t see the cans in them.

3.  The attendants seem to me to be more interested in digging out “treasures” that you bring in the trash vs keeping traffic moving and pushing that button that compacts the trash so the dumptser will not over flow.  One of them even once told me what they pay him so he has to dig things out to make more money on.  Well, if I needed more money, I’d go get a better paying job or take on a 2nd job.

4.  And last but not least, the attendant that always asks me who does my mechanic work.  He trys to sway me to a shop in Wytheville but doesn’t like my responce that I do my own work.  It’s cheaper and I know it’s done right…..the first time.

This is one of my pet peaves.  Usually when I go to the dump, I’m trying to stop in town for something else to save time and gas.  It’s hard to save gas when you have to wait for the attendant to get done talking with all of his buddies.  I usually park and carry my trash to the dumpster.  His just looks at me funny and keeps on flapping.  It’s a good thing he doesn’t get paid by the number of cars he moves thru in an hour or he would have to take on a 3rd job!

Does anyone know why the dump will not allow you bring your discarded cat litter to the center with the rest of your trash?  How are we supposed to dispose of our cat litter?

You’re more than welcome to dispose of cat litter at the dump.  You’re just not allowed to put it in the compactor, where it would be pureed and smeared all over the sides of the container.  The stench would be terrible.  Just throw it in one of the big open-top bins.  I double-bag our litter in Wal-Mart bags.  Just ask the attendant about it next time.  He’s carried the litter over to the open-top boxes for me numerous times while I was unloading the rest of the trash.  I will agree that the signs are not clear enough, and make it sound like cat litter is not allowed at all.  The county needs to have proper signs made, instead of stuff written on the lid of a washing machine with a magic marker.

I pay for trash removal through my taxes, and do not want my taxes to be raised to pay for people outside of this county to dispose of their trash, or to compensate for those that do not pay their taxes.

Take a closer look at roadside trash some time, and you’ll see it is primarily individual items, like bottles and fast food bags and wrappers, and not entire bags of household trash.  The fact that people outside our county can’t throw their household trash away in this county hardly means they are going to throw their bags on the side of our roads.

I asked the attendant there about taking my cat litter and that is when I ended up bringing it back home with me.  Surely they don’t give certain people special treatment because I have been asking around and the ones I have asked tell me they hide it in bags with their other trash such as another poster here told me that she does.  It seems like a very common thing people have to do now.

Also, about the stench…..how do you (or they) think that plain cat litter without any excrement such as what I bring in would be more odorous than say all those dirty baby diapers and rotting food trash?  I actually think the cat litter could include the excrement and it still wouldn’t stink any more than other items being disposed of there do.

I am very happy to hear that they take your cat litter, however, from now on, like everyone else seems to do, I will start hiding mine in with my regular bags too.  Or, should I try name dropping and just tell them that I want them to take my cat litter and dispose of it just like they do for Dan East?  If indeed there is a special bin for cat litter why isn’t it marked as such and why do you seem to be the only person who knows about its existance?  I shouldn’t have had to bring it back home with me.

Also, when I travel past the dump station I have yet to go by and not see entire bags or boxes of trash laying along the roadside.

Will from FC - 04 September 2008 12:18 AM

Although the county convenience centers are contracted out to a trash company, the county still is in-charge.  call the county administrator’s office to complain. 223 6020 i think.

Will, Thanks for the number to call.  I did call and was told that it is against county regulations for the trash dump to accept any sort of cat or dog litter.  I was told in no uncertain terms that No litter would be accepted.  I was instructed to call the transfer station at this number 228-4907 and talk to them about possibly taking my litter and that most likely they will charge me a fee for taking it.

It seems as though the dump has not been playing fair to everyone in the county by taking Dan East’s cat litter and then refusing everyone elses…..

Edited to say that I did call the transfer station and they do charge a fee.  It would cost me $20.00 per week to get rid of my cat litter unless I stock piled it up and kept it for more than one week before getting rid of it.  The cost was a flat fee of $20.00 for up to 800 lbs.  Seems to me like I better go back to purchasing stickers and have the town pick it up that way for me or be prepared to stockpile 800 lbs of litter…....

I’d ask to be directed to the county ordinance that forbids cat litter.  Otherwise, it’s not forbidden.  If they can’t do that, then someone was lying to you or misleading you.  It would then be time to visit the Board of Supervisors to air your complaint about the problems you see and that are silly.

David

Of course you could always hide the cat litter in some “aluminum” coke cans.  That ought to wake the attendant up!

Gary - 04 September 2008 11:39 PM

Of course you could always hide the cat litter in some “aluminum” coke cans.  That ought to wake the attendant up!

Sounds like an idea.  However, if I get caught I could have to pay up to $1,000.00 and serve jail time.  I have such great luck that I’d be the first one they caught putting cat litter in the dumpsters with my other household trash.

Here’s the ordinances… I’m not completely sure but I think the cat litter refusal may fall under ordinance 3.1-37 but honestly I just don’t know.

http://www.wytheco.org/docs/ordinances/ord1993-4.pdf

Also, 6.4-6 states that once the trash is delivered to the dump it becomes property of Wythe County.  It also states that no scavanging shall be permitted.

You’re right on about the scavenging.  I guess you can just sling it out in your back yard or dig a hole or something.  I never considered cat poop/litter to be so verboten.

Or maybe it’s their way of telling people they can have cats…...as long as they don’t pee or poop. Is the next step, you can have babies…...as long as they don’t pee or poop either?

I guess I need to get my dogs started on digging that hole for me to dispose of the cat litter in…....It’ll be hard to get them motivated to get off the couch though.

If I use food bribes I may get them off the couch and digging for me. 

I do have to admit that they did dig me a few amazingly large, spacious holes this summer…....too bad they were in the middle the yard and not located in a place I needed to plant something.  Plus, when I filled them back up with dirt they really got enjoyment out of re-digging those holes for me.  I’m re-thinking this and maybe I want them to stay on the couch and be non motivated.  As long as they are on the couch squeeking a toy they seem completely happy.

Also, 6.4-6 states that once the trash is delivered to the dump it becomes property of Wythe County.  It also states that no scavanging shall be permitted.

I put this to test about a month ago.  I bought a new set of (4) truck tires for my truck.  The old tires I had on my truck had about 1/4 tread left and were a matched set of white letter tires.  Not bad but I did not need them and didn’t want to keep them so I took them to the center.  The attandant said I could dispose of (4) tires per year per vehicle and had to write this on the back of my trucks registration.  He made a huge deal out of it and acted like they were really doing me a favor by taking the tires.  I just played along and did as he said.

I took the 4 tires over by the fence and neatly stacked them on top of each other.  There was only 2 other tires against the fence so I stacked the 2 older ones on top of my 4 and quickly put a chalk mark across all 6 tires.  The attendant wasn’t looking and was across the lot.  I went back to the same center 2 days later to take some household trash and drove by the tires on the way out.  The set of 4 tires I put out were gone but the 2 older tires were still there and had chalk marks across them.  I would say that someone at the center made a little cash on the side from the 4 tires or at best, let someone take them away.

I really don’t have a problem with someone doing this as long as they do their job and keep traffic flowing.  But you know how rules are.  They never seem to be applied the same to all people.

Today, I had my husband take our trash to the dump thinking that he might actually get to leave the cat litter there since someone has already posted that they take his litter.  Well, my husband came back home with the bag of cat litter, too.  However, after he was told they wouldn’t take his cat litter the man said that he had been noticing our trash for a while now and that we needed to bag the pop cans up seperately because it had something to with his salery there….I can’t remember exactly what my husband told me now.  Anyway, we don’t drink pop.  I did buy a 12 pack of mt. dew for my neice to drink while she was visiting us, so this week there could have been six or so cans in it.  This was only our second trip to the dump with our trash so I am not sure why he would say that he had been noticing our trash for a while now.  Anyway, before my husband could leave he handed him a business card for an automotive shop here in Wytheville. 

We shred all of our important papers but it is still scarey knowing that people go through the trash bags.  I think we will go back to paying to have our trash picked up.