The latest DeKalb City Council ordinance has curbed the problem of excessive amounts of trash located in drop-off containers throughout the community.

Recently the city council passed an ordinance restricting professional landscapers working in the area who accumulate large amounts of refuse from utilizing drop-off containers located throughout DeKalb.

Since then, Cameron Davis, DeKalb public works administrative assistant, said garbage collectors are no longer finding excessive amounts of trash in refuse containers.

Davis said when the program was instituted in July 1990, it was aimed to support the curb-side program for single-family homes.

Single-family home residents had the choice of putting their garbage on the curb or taking it to the containers.

But the collectors discovered that other people were taking advantage of these containers, Davis said.

He said the ordinance has been a fairly-effective deterrent. Since the ordinance was passed, he said there are no longer problems with extra garbage found in the containers.

The ordinance states that anyone found using these containers illegally will be fined no less than $50 and no more than $500, depending on how badly the ordinance has been violated.

Davis said he believes many people may not have known they were not supposed to use the containers.

“After we passed the ordinance we sent letters out explaining it, and since then we’ve had no problems,” he said. “Disposal is a cost of business.”