Haymarket community frustrated by illegal dumping in neighborhood

HAYMARKET, Va. - Police in northern Virginia are hoping the public will help them find the people who've been illegally dumping all kinds of large furniture and trash on vacant land near a nice neighborhood.

The lot has been used as an illegal dumping ground for months in the town of Haymarket. There are places just like this all across our region.

The owner of the property has just paid someone to seal off the entryways, which should help, but police also put up a security camera on a tree here recently, capturing a photo of the latest person to illegally dump here. 

Haymarket police shared a few images of the latest culprit on Facebook, driving a black pickup truck.  They didn't get the license plate. These guys tossed out a mattress and couch, right next to a dumpster the property owner put here to help clean up the mess.

Photos taken by a couple who live on the other side of the property documented just how ridiculous it had gotten.  if the people who've been doing this are caught, they face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.  Plus, Lisa England, whose husband took these photos, says much of the furniture dumped at the site was not junk.

"Some of it was nice. It wasn't like it was your great-grandmother's furniture from the 1960s," said Lisa England. "I mean, it's not my land but I still had to see it and people had to see it going by it and you could hear the trucks and you just thought, who has the audacity to do that? It just seems really irresponsible, you know?"

FOX 5 put our SkyFox drone up over the landfill in Dumfries — just a 25-minute drive away.  

Getting rid of your trash this way is not only legal but free for those paying the Prince William County solid waste fee and just $5 for up to 200 pounds if you live in Haymarket or another jurisdiction within the county.  

One northern Virginia state senator is proposing legislation to increase the penalties for illegal dumping in the Commonwealth, believing some people would rather pay the fine than the fees.  

"It's just laziness. I've taken many things to the dump and I think the most I've ever paid Haymarket says that's rubbish.

"It’s $20 for a TV or something. Most of the time — especially with materials that you just saw leave here — there will be no cost incurred other than the trip to the landfill. It's just pure laziness and it's illegal and that's how it's going to be treated as a crime," Sibert said. 

Sibert says this was the only illegal dumping ground they know of in the town of Haymarket. The people doing this will have to find someplace else.