Metal, cement, dirt and trash filling up South Lake Tahoe's refuse center

It's the sign of a busy construction season in South Lake Tahoe: an overflowing dump. Even though exact numbers aren't yet available, the South Tahoe Refuse (STR) has seen more trash coming through this summer than in years past and crews cannot keep up with all of the extra garbage.

Since the refuse center recycles about 60% of what comes through it's gates, staff is kept busy sorting through the all the garbage and unwanted items that come in.

Inside the center you'll find a wall of unsorted garbage while outside there are sorted piles of dirt, cement, metal, cardboard, appliances and yet to be sorted hauls from construction sites.

According to Jeanne Lear, Human Resources Manager for South Tahoe Refuse, the sorted cement will be hauled off and crushed up for ground covers and bases. She said they received a lot of extra dirt this summer due to a local project that had to pull dirt out unexpectedly due to a perforated pipe. That company will reuse what they dropped off and the rest of the dirt will be re-used elsewhere. The pile of metal will be sent to a recycler as will the cardboard.

When dump trucks drop off household garbage at the refuse center it is sorted on a conveyor belt so recyclables can be retrieved. STR hopes to get a heavy duty machine soon that will allow them to quickly sort the construction debris that is now in one large pile in their yard.

In a normal year, STR will collect 100,000 tons of garbage and recycle 60,000 tons.