South Fulton County

County to cleanup 'dangerous' trash in local neighborhood

Trash piles in South Fulton County have residents concerned about a possible health hazard.

SOUTH FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — There is a lot of concern among some residents of a Fulton County neighborhood about what they may have been exposed to since bags labeled "do not breathe in" and "may cause cancer" were found dumped nearby.
 
Neighbors fear the material in the bags contains asbestos.
 
When Channel 2's Matt Johnson called the county, officials promised they'd be out here to have a look themselves.
 
"This is a health hazard in the community," Pamela Harvey said.
 
That's the first thing Harvey said when she discovered a pile of bags marked "danger" and "may cause cancer."
 
"Those bags have been over there for more than a month," Harvey said.
 
The writing on the bags also say "contains asbestos fibers."
 
Some of the bags at Spring Street and Miller Road are even torn -- exposing what may be pieces of a house and potentially asbestos.
 
"Children do walk down this street. They may go over there. They may get curious and they may not know what asbestos is," Harvey said.
 
First neighbors were frustrated with people dumping tires in the community and now Harvey is upset with the latest act of neglect.
 
"Probably a contractor who didn't want to pay to remove asbestos," Harvey said.
 
Alex Cameron, who lives nearby, told Johnson he's concerned that not everyone will be cautious around the pile of bags.
 
"They're poisoning people. Somebody needs to clean it up as fast as they can," Cameron said.
 
Harvey says she has been trying to get the county to clean up the mess next to an abandoned county fire station.
 
"I have informed them at least five, six times," Harvey said.
 
When Johnson contacted the county a spokesperson told him, "We will have Fulton County workers from our grounds and solid waste disposal department to remove the trash in the morning. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
 
The county says it will have workers out there Wednesday morning.
 
Neighbors say they want to work on a plan to keep others from dumping tires and everything else in the future.