LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — When you think of Las Vegas, it’s easy to be absorbed by the bright lights, glitz and glamor. But for people driving into the city, or out, their first impression may be tarnished by tons of trash.
“When I look at Vegas, even in the movies, you see clean streets, stuff like that. They’re doing it for the movies but yet when you come out here and you actually visit, it’s not clean,” said Chris Scheib, a Las Vegas local.
Scheib visits the Nellis dunes every few days to ride his motorbike. It's an area he’s familiar with and one he says has been ruined by illegal dumpers.
“They don’t want to take it to the dump. They just come out here, dump it out and get rid of it,” Scheib said.
Near I-15 and Apex, you’ll find refrigerators, grocery bags, bottles and more. Something even more unusual, bottles filled with urine lining both sides of the road.
“It’s people in four wheelers, in cars, pick-up trucks, vans, whatever. They’re driving down the highway and they don’t want to stop so they just pee in a bottle and throw it out the window,” Scheib said.
Ashlee Wellman with the Nevada Highway Patrol calls it an unacceptable crime and if caught in the act, pricey.
“For littering in Nevada the starting fine is $1,000, that’s not including your court fees or anything like that. You have to take responsibility as an adult anytime you have trash or a secure load on your vehicle,” Wellman said.
Often, agencies will dispatch teams to issue tickets and clean up the mess, but the trash just keeps coming. Illegal dumping complaints are typically always on the rise, but finding those responsible is another challenge because dumping is so tough to trace.
“Nothing out here is being cleaned up but yet our taxpayer dollars are supposed to be cleaning it up,” Scheib said.
The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection offers a $100 reward to people who report illegal dumping when they see it.
