We all need to help to stop illegal dumping

There is a certain revulsion Long Islanders feel when they hear about and see the evidence of another case of illegal dumping spoiling our precious environment.

Brace yourself: More is likely coming.

This scourge has plagued our region for years. But it figures to get worse with the impending closure of the Brookhaven landfill. The town facility, one of two on Long Island that accepts construction and demolition debris and by far the largest landfill in the region, is scheduled to stop taking in construction debris by the end of the year and will shut completely in 2027 or 2028. Brookhaven officials are rightly sounding an alarm. The loss of a legal outlet, they fear, will lead some construction companies, restaurants and homeowners who are facing more expensive disposal options to seek other places to dump their trash — places that could include vacant lots and public lands.

It's a reasonable concern, and one grounded in the region's history. Examples of past misbehavior, large and small, are voluminous.

In 2014, 40,000 tons of contaminated construction debris were discovered at Roberto Clemente Park in Brentwood. Not long after, three other illegal dumping sites were found in Islip Town. In 2018, a state and Suffolk County investigation charged 30 people and nine corporations with illegally disposing solid waste in 24 locations. In 2022, it was household debris dumped in the pine barrens in Yaphank, and a Port Washington man arrested for trucking 700 cubic yards of illegal material to a farm in Riverhead.

This year in Brookhaven alone, someone stuffed construction material into a town dumpster at Stony Brook's West Meadow Beach, a man was fined for leaving a damaged boat filled with dirt, vegetation and household trash on Bellport Avenue in Yaphank, and 10 people were cited for illegal dumping in town parks. Most alarming for the environment and our precious aquifer, Central Pine Barrens Commission officials report that cases of illegal dumping in the state-protected forest doubled from 2022 to 2023, from 63 to 127.

These are only the cases that are made public.

The crimes are generally economic in nature, which is why experts worry that a spike is coming. When the Brookhaven landfill closes, disposal costs will soar for debris that needs to be hauled off the Island. A vacant property or patch of woods or even a government dumpster is an inviting — and free — target for dumping. The public pays the price.

Clearly, vigilance and enforcement will be needed. That goes for county, town and village officials and staff as well as our judicial system when perpetrators are identified. But each of us has a role to play, too.

If you see something, say something. Let your local authorities know if someone is trashing our beautiful island. Together, we can help stem the scourge.