Natrona Residents Unsure Who Will Collect Garbage As Trash Piles Up

Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter

NATRONA (KDKA) -- Trash bags are piling up in Natrona. Residents say garbage is just being dumped outside vacant homes, and there's a debate over who's going to take the trash out.

George Hays has watched for decades as his tiny community has declined, but he says this is too much.

"It's just been people moving in, messing it up, messing homes up. Empty houses go empty. People strip 'em. It's just terrible. It's a messed up town," he said.

Natrona is a once-bustling town just northeast of Pittsburgh. It's seen industry leave and its population drop to less than 2,000. Now, many homes are vacant.

Daryl Shook says he never imagined it would come to this.

"This stuff was never here a few years back. It was all cleaned up. But now this is just turning into obviously a garbage dump," he said.

The eyesore and the smell are bad enough, but the trash also attracts pests.

"There's probably rats all over the place from this. Cats. There's cats everywhere. I seen hundreds of cats down here," Hays said.

Who will pick it up? No one can answer that question.

"Who's gonna be responsible for it? I don't know, maybe the township. Who knows? We don't know," Shook said.

Residents are hoping Harrison Township will do something about the garbage problem.