Illegal Use Of City Trash Cans On The Rise

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Fines for illegal dumping of residential garbage in street litter bins jumped 46 percent in New York City last year.

According to city records, Mahanttan had the largest number of tickets issued for the violation, from 699 in 2010 to 1,454 in 2011.

It was followed by the Bronx, which had 158 tickets issued in 2010 and 474 last year.

City Councilman Peter Vallone told the Daily News he gets complaints all the time from people who say their neighbors constantly throw their garbage in public receptacles.

Just last week, Vallone tracked down an Astoria resident who had apparently stuffed his personal trash into a city garbage can.

"What kind of pig does this? Stuffs up the small opening of a public trash can with a bag of your personal home trash?" Vallone wrote on his Facebook page.

Vallone went through the offending bag of rubbish and tracked down the "pig" thanks to a Victoria's Secret catalogue.

Vallone plans to introduce legislation to increase the fine for illegal dumping to $200 from $100.

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