Illegal Dumping in Oakland has increased 100-percent over the last five years.
- Many cities across California experience the same issue, and are reporting an increase in illegal dumping.
- Illegal dumping is prolific and systemic citywide. Click the map below to see the distribution of illegal dumping reports across the City of Oakland.
- Oakland Public Works crews cleaned up approximately 29,000 piles of illegal dumping in 2016–every single pile that was reported, and many more that crews found on their own! This is a 100-percent increase from what City crews were picking up five years ago.
- As the graph below shows, OPW picked up every pile reported by the public (represented by the orange bars) and made pickups of our own, including separating out items for recycling (represented by the blue bars). Note that some piles required more than one truck for the pickup.
Note that the bar graph above is based on fiscal years (FY) -- a fiscal year begins July 1st and ends on June 30th.
Interactive Data for Illegal Dumping
The interactive, dynamic chart below allows you to click on time periods, slices of the pie chart, and more to view the number and type of service requests to which OPW responded. The pie chart shows the various codes used to record the service requests; for example, “Illegal Dumping mattresses” are service requests specifically for mattresses; “Illegal Dumping Enforcement” is a service request for a pile pickup and where the caller provides information that could lead to enforcement action. Between 2010 and 2012, Illegal Dumping was coded as “Litter Pickup In the Right Of Way.” After 2012, the coding for Illegal Dumping was changed to “Illegal Dumping debris, appliances, etc.” These two categories are synonymous. (Click on the bottom right-hand arrows to enlarge the interactive.)
Please note that trash and debris that can get into our waterways is sometimes included in several of the above illegal dumping codes.