LITHONIA, Ga. — Residents at a Lithonia apartment complex are fed up with a trash problem they say has been growing for more than a week, despite management's claims that the dilemma is out of its hands.
When a trash compactor broke at the Park at Edinburgh Apartments on June 12, a tower of trash began to stack up near the dumpster.
Channel 2's Matt Johnson began investigating on Thursday when a viewer emailed him with photos.
"It's like a landfill here," said Felicia Gray, a resident of the apartment complex. "It's unreal because you know it's going to bring in other infestations. It's going to bring roaches and rats."
Property manager Willis Pride told Johnson he is waiting for a replacement part for the broken compactor.
In the meantime, his trash service provider brings temporary dumpsters every weekday. Those dumpsters can fill up within an hour because of a backlog of trash combined with new garbage.
"It's not like we enjoy having all this trash out here," Pride said. "I live here also and I don't like it either."
On Thursday, Pride said he had been waiting for a new roll-away dumpster from Republic Trash Services all afternoon. By the end of the day they delivered one.
By Sunday, the dumpster was overflowing with garbage.
"This is not something that we can control here," said Pride. "All we can do is wait until the roll-aways are brought here and then handle our business after that."
Johnson called Republic Trash Services on Thursday and has yet to hear back.
The property management did not send out any notices or updates to residents about the trash situation, which has added to the frustration of many people who breathe in the overwhelming odor daily.
"Don't wait until it piles up and then you want to come out here and do something," said Tanika Hudson, a resident of the apartments for nearly a year. "[They should] keep it maintained until you get it fixed. There's ways around it."
WSBTV
