Trash blows into the Caloosahatchee from Lee County apartment complex

Trash is making a big mess while it blows around the Harbor Grand apartment complex near downtown Fort Myers.

Then, when the trash truck comes to empty the dumpster, some of the trash ends up in the Caloosahatchee River.

WINK News spoke with people who use the Oasis Boat Ramp, and they are fed up with the trash.

Due to construction, dumpsters were relocated closer to the river, risking pollution by the trash.

“As he is picking up the trash bins, there is bags and bags worth of trash that was blowing all over the parking lot and ultimately into the water,” said Brian Waid, the general manager at Fort Myers Marine.

Fort Myers Marine takes boats out every day at the Oasis Boat Ramp, and they’re tired of the trash.

“We’re out volunteering, and our customers are out volunteering, cleaning up the waterways, and then I have a dump,” said Waid. “They’re basically a garbage truck dump.”

Oasis, now known as Harbor Grand, is the owner of the dumpsters, while the dump truck belongs to the City of Fort Myers Recycling and Solid Waste.

“Per the ordinance, all trash should be bagged in the containers, and Oasis was made aware of that. The drivers are responsible for emptying out the trash into the truck from the containers, which again should be bagged and that would have avoided this problem,” said a spokesperson for Fort Myers.

Stephen Rensley, a frequent Oasis Boat Ramp user, hopes it can be cleaner for everyone.

“Hope we can find some way to clean it up and prevent it from happening again because I know you know there’s some unauthorized dumping. This is going on in this area, so see if we can get a handle on that,” said Frensley.

The City of Fort Myers reached out to Harbor Grand and said as a result it will be moving the containers to the back lot. Harbor Grand has been reminded that they need to ensure trash is bagged.