WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) —Williamson County is continuing its efforts to crack down on people illegally dumping their trash.
Many times authorities said they find the trash down rural roads, or even on people’s land.
“Unfortunately, we are the prime target here in Williamson County,” said Williamson County Precinct 4 Constable Paul Leal. “If you dump on us in Williamson County Precinct 4, we will do everything we can to find out who you are and we will put you in jail for it.”
In 2021, the department launched the “You dump it, you clean it” program, which gives the offender an opportunity to clean up the trash they dumped.
“We say you go out, clean it up, you take it to the landfill and provide us a receipt and we will reduce it to a class C misdemeanor,” Leal said.
If the person declines, they could face a state jail felony, according to Leal.
The county has set up about 100 cameras to catch the people dumping their trash, but they also rely on tips from people living in the county.
In 2019, Precinct 4 needed more than 650 tons of roadside debris picked up, Leal said.
“In two years of launching this program and aggressively going after violators, we got that to just under 200 tons,” Leal said.
Leal added this saves taxpayers big, since crews don’t have to be paid to clean it up.
“When you put that in dollars, you are talking about $750,000 worth of savings to Williamson County taxpayers,” Leal said.