The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
It’s meant for campers, not contractors and residents
By Mark Reaman
A dumpster located at the Crested Butte Four-Way parking lot is apparently being abused and causing problems for nearby neighbors. The town council said they want to continue providing the trash receptacle meant for campers coming in from the nearby backcountry and they tasked town staff with figuring out how to make it work.
In a report to the council at the Tuesday, August 8 meeting, it was reported that the town has “received complaints from neighbors about trash being left outside the dumpster that is then carried into their yards by wildlife.”
The report said the dumpster has been “badly abused,” and Waste Management said it has been told that some contractors and local residents are choosing to use the Four-Way dumpster instead of paying for their own trash service. Waste Management is emptying the dumpster three days a week—on Monday, Wednesday and Friday—but a photograph included in the staff report shows an overflowing dumpster with trash bags scattered all around it. The report to council said town staff is considering not providing the dumpster for the 2024 season.
Councilmembers debated whether to discontinue the service, add a second dumpster or move the dumpster to another location. One idea was to see if a business, like the Gas Café, would provide the dumpster if the town paid for it, the idea being that people there would keep an eye on it.
Ultimately, council instructed the staff that it wanted to continue to provide the dumpster service for backcountry campers and asked staff to figure out a solution to deal with the abuse.
