Jackson residents clean up trash after it was illegally dumped in another yard

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - As of now, there isn’t a garbage company responsible for collecting trash in the Capital City.

Instead of letting the trash pile up in front of their home, some residents are getting rid of their garbage by putting it in someone else’s yard.

More than two dozen trash bags were scattered throughout the front yard of an empty and vacant home on Meadow Forest Drive.

The garbage sat there for hours until four men jumped into action, cleaning up the trashy mess.

“Honestly, all we did was grab the bags that were scattered everywhere. We actually cleaned it up, grabbed some of the trash, and put it in other bags,” said Jaylin O’Quinn, one of the four cleaning up the home.

The four are a part of the non-profit organization called Operation Good. O’Quinn said they felt compelled to remove the trash after driving by the home and seeing it continue to pile up. They wanted to prevent it from creating an eyesore in the community.

”It’s very important. I mean, this is our neighborhood,” O’Quinn expressed. “It needed to be cleaned, so if ain’t nobody going to do it, we’re going to do it.”

For these Jackson residents, cleaning up the community is nothing new. Through Operation Good, they go all over the city looking to find ways to restore neighborhoods, and this is just the latest example of that.

”Earlier we cut the grass if we see it looking kind of bad. We don’t mind. We pull out the lawnmower, cut the grass down a little bit, just trying to make the community look better,” O’Quinn explained. “It’s our community. If we don’t do it, nobody else is going to do it.”

This trash pile-up comes just days after the city’s emergency contract with Richard’s Disposal expired, and the council failed to approve a new contract.

With the city not having a garbage company to collect trash for the foreseeable future, the four men believe this is some people’s way of retaliating against the council’s decision.

If trash continues to pile up in front of vacant homes, O’Quinn said they will continue to do their part to clean it up and place the trash on the curb.

While many residents are upset about the city not having a garbage contract in place, keep in mind that putting your trash in someone else’s yard is illegal, and you can be fined if you’re caught doing so.

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