Trash is the No. 1 concern facing Aberdeen, according to the city of Aberdeen, its residents, business owners, unhoused community, the general public and people who shop within the city.

The city has spent a total of $160,765 to clean up trash since the start of 2023, when the homeless cleanup reports began, according to the city.

The total costs for August 2023 alone were $23,477 to clean up trash throughout the city. Much of those cleanup costs come from the homeless encampments on the state property on State Street (200 to 400 blocks of East State Street) and the city property on River Street (200 to 400 blocks of East River Street). The city bills the state for cleaning up the State Street blocks.

“That’s just for that camp down there. …,” said Ruth Clemens, Aberdeen’s city administrator. “I know the community is concerned about that but it also includes collecting all the shopping carts. We clean up pretty much as much as we can around the whole city, but the bulk of it definitely comes from cleaning up the encampments, keeping the right-of-way clear. Also in that, the dumping fees for the two dumpsters down there. But there are people within the community who see that as an opportunity to take their trash down there.”

In a past interview, one homeless person who lives underneath the bridge complained about receiving a large haul of VHS tapes and a VCR. She wondered aloud with a frustrated tone what they were going to do with that stuff because there’s no way to use any of it.

Because of the trash accumulation, especially at the encampment, the prevailing thought right now is the city needs a homeless shelter. On Tuesday, Clemens presented the Homelessness Response Committee survey results that pointed to trash being the chief concern to the Grays Harbor County Commissioners. At that meeting, Clemens had her eye on the help a shelter would provide county-wide as well.

“I think you understand that our immediate need right now is a shelter,” Clemens told commissioners, according to The Daily World. “That could be used not only by the unhoused here in Aberdeen, we believe every city would be using it if there was an available shelter. We are one of the few counties with this issue that doesn’t have a shelter for people to go to.”

And while a thought amongst a large number of non-homeless residents is about “pulling themselves up by their bootstraps,” it’s not that simple. A shelter would allow people to have their other needs beside housing met, such as a shower and an ability to clean their clothes.

But in the meantime, until there is a homeless shelter, city staff knows it needs to do something to mitigate the issue of garbage within Aberdeen.

So what is the city doing? One part of the plan is sending two diligent, respectful city workers — Oskar Campos and Angel Baltazar — down to River Street to help clean up the thoroughfare that runs along that portion of the encampment under the Chehalis River Bridge. The residents there can have their belongings behind the cement blocks, but not in front of it, where the street is.

While Campos has worked to clean up the city for about two years, the city started a homeless report at the end of 2022, according to Clemens. The costs since then are staggering:

July 2023 — $18,244

June 2023 — $19,072

May 2023 — $26,150

April 2023 — $12,760

March 2023 — $25,823

Feb. 2023 — $16,584

Jan. 2023 — $18,655

So, what is the cleanup process?

When Campos and Baltazar get to River Street, they ask each resident to wake up, if the resident is not outside the structure — tent, etc. The residents are then asked what can be thrown away. While there are rules the pair of workers must abide by, asking the people living down there seems to be the respectful approach to throwing away what other people would just assume is garbage. To some people living down on River Street, that “garbage” could be an item a resident there has been saving for months or years.

The pair of workers, both with two years or less experience doing this particular job, know the people by name. They know their situations — if they’re on drugs, if they’re trying to get clean, if they’re marred mentally, or if there are other issues stopping them from getting off the street.

And there is a variety of personalities at the site. Most people don’t cause problems for the city workers.

“Some people come and help us clean out their spot,” Campos said, before noting it’s mostly the east side of River Street that needs cleaning. “Some people are really kind. … They’ll help us clean up. We’ll have civil conversations and then they’ll go about their day.”

Mike Randich, Campos’ and Baltazar’s supervisor, came by the camp Tuesday morning to see the clean up progress. He sounded like he was glad to have the guys on staff.

“They’re good dudes,” Randich said. “They do a good job for us.”

While Campos and Baltazar showed a relaxed disposition as they went about their work at the camp, Campos explained how it was tough.

“Coming down here is an everyday hassle,” Campos said. “We’ll get people coming to take the stuff out of the truck. A couple times we’ll have problems and call the police. We’ll try to ease the situation but if it gets really bad, we’ll get the police.”

It can get quite nasty to deal with folks who don’t want them there. Campos described how people will get mean in a verbal way.

“It’s not physical, but there’ll be times they’ll threaten us with a bat,” Campos said. “We’ve gotten our tires slashed before. But it doesn’t happen a lot.”

And then as far as the worst of what Campos and Baltazar pick up, the three worst sources of waste they’ve got to pick up are needles, rotten garbage and feces.

“The main one is needles, we have to make sure we’re safe,” Campos said. “The rotten garbage and feces make a lot of maggots, but the main thing is needles. People will do drugs right in front of us. They’ll have tubs of needles.”

On Tuesday, a syringe was seen stuck into the side of a wood structure on River Street. They also shoveled several deconstructed needles — people strip them to get the rest of the substance from the needle — onto the city truck they used to haul away the garbage and shopping carts.

Campos detailed the fear regarding fentanyl, which recently dropped to 40 cents per pill in Washington state, according to Washington State Standard, a nonprofit, independent news source.

“The main thing with fentanyl is you can get high from absorption through the skin,” Campos said.

There’s also the tin foil he and Baltazar find too, which can be related to crystal methamphetamine use.

And sometimes for Campos and Baltazar to clear the garbage load, they need to take three trips from the encampment to the dump. While the duo cleans up more than the encampments — Campos said they go as far north as Bear Gulch Road (about one mile north of Aberdeen) — between 45 minutes to one hour-and-a-half is spent cleaning up the encampments.

Clemens said with the people living down at the encampment, the city just has to clean up after those residents.

“That’s just what we’re facing just to keep that part of town functioning,” Clemens said. “There are businesses down there that require trucks to go in and out of there… We have to absolutely keep the (street) open so those businesses can continue. They have taken the brunt of the hit from having to deal with the effects of this encampment down there. It’s just been kind of a major challenge for the city. I feel really bad for the businesses down there. We’re trying everything we can to manage the issue, but until the city gets a shelter, this is what we’re gonna be facing.”

In addition to Campos and Baltazar, there is also a weekly clean up at the camp that includes one supervisor and four or five employees, according to Clemens. If an item is too heavy to lift they use an excavator.

“This is ongoing,” Clemens said.

Unfortunately, there have been a few portable toilets installed down at the camps. Clemens said the city has its third or fourth portable toilet down there now. She said past ones have been burned or vandalized. The city has to go down and clean those too.

As far as the ongoing hard work of Campos and Baltazar, Clemens couldn’t have been kinder.

“I think they are some of the hardest working employees we have,” Clemens said. “They don’t complain about it. They really work hard. They find ways to be proactive. They know what needs to be done. I’m very proud of the work that they’re doing.”

Clemens said she’s glad the city’s Public Works department had the “foresight” to hire Campos, because of the garbage accumulation at the camp and from people who live outside the camp and use the camp as a dump. Without Campos and Baltazar, “there would be so much trash.”

“They are an absolute blessing to the city,” Clemens said.

Contact Reporter Matthew N. Wells at matthew.wells@thedailyworld.com.