Annual Report on
Illegal Dumping
Programs
Oakland Public Works
Illegal dumping is a critical issue throughout the City of Oakland (City).
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
The hardest hit areas are the city’s frontline communities.
Significant economic, environmental, health, and safety impacts.
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Majority of the City’s illegally dumped materials are
removed by the Illegal Dumping Unit (IDU) in Oakland
Public Works, Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Division.
The IDU is divided into 3 types of crews:
• Reactive - Responds to service requests received by
Oak311 or the “See Click Fix” application.
• Proactive Crew (Garbage Blitz) – Deployed to “hot
spots” and major corridors to remove debris before it is reported.
• Homeless Encampment - Provide trash and debris for
homeless encampment cleanings and closures. Works
in coordination with the Encampment Management
Team (EMT), led by the City Administrator’s Office
(CAO).
• The Reactive and Proactive Crews work in 4 Zones
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
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work
• Reactive - Responds to service requests received by
Oak311 or the “See Click Fix” application.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
• KOCB crews complete thousands of illegal dumping service requests and work orders each year.
• Proactive work and encampment cleanings generate Work Orders, therefore there are more total Work Orders per year than Service Requests Fiscal Year Completed
Service
Requests
Percentage
complete
within 3 days
Average days to
complete Service
Request
Total Number of
Completed Work
Orders*
2021-2022
26,917 85% 2 46,415
2020-2021 35,860 89% 2 54,197
2019-2020 30,736 90% 2 59,218
2018-2019 27,074 92% 1 38,771
2017-2018 26,460 No Data No Data 31,225
2016-2017 No Data No Data No Data 27,392
Illegal Dumping Service Requests and Work Orders by Fiscal Year Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Illegal Dumping Work Orders FY 2021-2022 Geographic Equity Toolbox Map
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
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work
• Proactive Crew (Garbage Blitz) – Deployed to “hot
spots” and major corridors to remove debris before it is reported.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Illegal Dumping Volumes
The quantity of illegal dumping removed by crews has increased significantly in the past five years. Work is shifting to proactive crews.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
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work
• Homeless Encampment - Provide trash and debris for
homeless encampment cleanings and closures. Works
in coordination with the Encampment Management
Team (EMT), led by the City Administrator’s Office
(CAO).
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Insert photos of crew at
work
• Homeless Encampment - Provide trash and debris for
homeless encampment cleanings and closures. Works
in coordination with the Encampment Management
Team (EMT), led by the City Administrator’s Office
(CAO).
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Insert photos of crew at
work
• Homeless Encampment - Provide trash and debris for
homeless encampment cleanings and closures. Works
in coordination with the Encampment Management
Team (EMT), led by the City Administrator’s Office
(CAO).
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
# of Encampments Closed in 22-23
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work
• The Reactive and Proactive crews work in 4 Zones
• Proactive crews patrol zone routes 6 days a week –
rotating through each zone one at a time.
• Depending on cleanliness of zone, crews may stay in
one zone from 2-5 days.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Zone 1: Berkeley Border to Lake Merritt, includes Districts 1 and 3
Zone 2: Lake Merritt to High Street, includes Districts 1, 2, 4, and 5
Zone 3: High Street to 82nd Avenue, includes Districts 4, 6, and 7
Zone 4: 82nd Avenue to San Leandro Border, includes Districts 4, 6, and 7
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
ENVIRONMENTAL
ENFORCEMENT
UNIT
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT
• Charged with enforcing illegal dumping
restrictions and regulations.
• Initiated in the early 2000’s - Disbanded in 2011 -
Restarted in March 2019
• Initially included staff of 4 Environmental
Enforcement Officers (EEO)
• Now includes 10 budgeted positions:
• 8 EEOs
• 1 Administrative Analyst I
• 1Clean Community Supervisor
• Patrol 4 Zones of the city and monitory hotspots
• Monitor Illegal Dumping Surveillance Camera
footage.
• Issue citations for violations of Oakland Municipal
Code (OMC) Section 8.28.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT continued
• The Environmental Enforcement Unit has
issued more than1,977 citations for illegal
dumping since the program was relaunched
in February 2019.
• 69 of those citations have been issued
based on data from the Surveillance Camera
Program that was launched 11 months ago
in February 2022.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT continued
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT UNIT continued
• Utilize data provided by the City’s solid waste
management contractor, Waste Management of
Alameda County (WMAC) and other methods, to
ensure commercial businesses have the mandatory
trash and recycling collection services.
• Monitor instances of unlawful dumping in or near litter containers used by commercial businesses.
• Can register businesses for trash service if they are found to not have it.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Illegal Dumping Surveillance Camera Program
• Program launched in March 2022
• Requesting addition of new technologies to increase
efficacy of the program
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Parks and Tree
Services Division
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Parks and Tree Services Division
• The Parks and Tree Services Division (PTSD) is
responsible for debris removal within City-owned
parks, medians, and open spaces, except for
debris removal that is clearly associated with
homeless encampments.
• Illegal dumping is removed from parks 7 days a
week. More on weekends when the parks are used
more heavily by the public.
• Litter removal now represents 50% of labor
hours, which significantly reduces the time for
landscaping and tending to park spaces.
• Parks staff have recently started tracking illegal
dumping volumes separately from litter can
volumes and will be able to report on these figures
in next year’s report.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Education and
Partnership
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Stewardship Program (Environmental Services Division)
Leads community-oriented cleaning initiatives:
• Adopt-a-Spot
• Adopt-a-Drain
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in January,
• Earth Day in April
• Creek to Bay Day in September
• Neighborhood Bulky Block Parties
• In 2022 10,270 community members contributed 60,426
hours of volunteer time to cleaning the city, resulting in the removal of 2,765 cubic yards of litter and debris.
• Assisted by 3rd party programs:
• Lake Merritt Institute – Cleaning and community
engagement around Lake Merritt
• Team Oakland – Youth engagement jobs program to
clean and green
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Partnerships with Non-Profit Organizations
The Beautification Council (BC) – Works with
unhoused residents, unemployed, and justice-
system involved individuals to micro-clean and
sanitize homeless encampments after the City
removes the bulk of the debris. Under a grant from
CalTrans, the City contracts with BC to remove
litter and debris from the State’s right of way.
Downtown Streets Team (DST) – Uses a
volunteer work experience model where unhoused
residents conduct litter and trash removal in
exchange for case management, employment
services and a basic needs stipend. Routes in four
designated areas - East Lake Merritt, Saint Vincent
de Paul, International Blvd, and Fruitvale - are
maintained weekly by DST.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Enforcement Of Illegal Construction
And Demolition Debris Haulers
• Unscrupulous and illegally operating
haulers contribute to the City’s illegal
dumping problem.
• Enforcement of Construction and
Demolition (C&D) debris hauling
requirements - building permit holders who
hire haulers to transport C&D debris without
a City-issued non-exclusive franchise
contract can receive Notice of Violation,
penalties, and/or fees.
• Recently-adopted amendment to OMC
Section 15.34 will increase the number of
permitted construction projects that fall
under C&D debris recycling and hauling
requirements.
How to Properly
Dispose of Bulky
Items and Excess
Debris
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
BULKY DEBRIS SERVICES
Curbside Bulky Pickup
• WMAC provides curbside bulky pickup
service - scheduled by appointment - to
residents of 1-4 unit single family
dwellings (SFD) since 2005, and to
residents of 5-plus unit multi-family
dwellings (MFD) since July 2015.
• SFD may schedule two appointments
per year. Average of 1,965
appointments per month.
• MFDs may schedule one appointment
per year. Average of 472 appointments
per month.
District MULTI-FAMILY SINGLE
FAMILY
Total Units
Served in
2022
District 1 301 5,955 6,256
District 2 1,267 2,737 4,004
District 3 1,301 1,718 3,019
District 4 1,323 3,780 5,103
District 5 640 3,077 3,717
District 6 487 5,141 5,628
District 7 219 4,225 4,444
District Not
Known 363 186 549
Total Units
Served in 2022 5,901 26,819 32,720
Percentage
Served Out of
Total Units
Citywide 8.1% 23.7% 17.5%
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
BULKY DEBRIS SERVICES
Self-Haul Appointments - Davis Street will accept up to fifty (50) drop-offs per day Monday through Friday and one-hundred (100) on Saturdays. Available by appointment.
Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total Appointments
Available
1450 1400 1550 1550 1500 1500 1550 1550 1500 1550 1500 1600 1820 0 Scheduled
Appointments
334 273 264 275 273 287 362 282 297 330 236 313 3526
Used
Appointments
178 115 118 136 134 127 166 115 108 126 106 130 1559
Percentage of
Appointments
Available
Scheduled
23% 20% 17% 18% 18% 19% 23% 18% 20% 21% 16% 20% 19%
Percentage of
Appointments
Available Used
12% 8% 8% 9% 9% 8% 11% 7% 7% 8% 7% 8% 9%
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
BULKY DEBRIS SERVICES
Bulky Block Parties
• Hosted on the last Saturday
of each month at the
Municipal Service Center
on Edgewater Drive.
• Residents are invited to
bring large bulky debris
items that cannot be
disposed of through their
normal trash services.
Vehicles Served
FY 2021-22
MONTH # of Vehicles
JUL 461
AUG 464
SEPT 326
OCT 304
NOV 40
DEC 149
JAN 423
FEB 287
MAR 237
APR 337
MAY 174
JUN 409
Total 3611
Tonnage Totals
FY 2021-22
MONTH TONS
JUL No Data
AUG 75.91
SEPT 56.69
OCT 42.8
NOV 21.01
DEC 35.05
JAN 66.56
FEB 60.15
MAR 72.96
APR 86.02
MAY 3.23
JUN 116.08
TOTAL 636.46
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
BULKY DEBRIS SERVICES
Neighborhood Bulky Block Parties
• Started in Fall 2022
• Brings the popular Bulky Block Party into some of
Oakland’s neighborhoods most affected by illegal
dumping.
• Paired with other strategies and services to
empower the community to be stewards and
maintain cleaner neighborhoods such as:
• Neighborhood canvasing to raise awareness
of the event and other services
• Hosting same-day volunteer clean-up
supported by KOCB staff and services
• Installation of illegal dumping camera at
neighborhood dumping “hot spot”
• Community appreciation and recognition
event
Strategies for Improvement
Increasing Enforcement
• On-board all EEU positions
• Explore Opportunities to Partner with Alameda County Sheriff or District Attorney’s Office
• Publicize when dumpers caught
• Adding License Plate Reader cameras and satellite camera to improve images of dumpers and increase number of citations issued Ensuring Businesses Have Adequate Garbage Service –There may be as many as 6,800 businesses that are not signed up for mandatory garbage service.
Examine Opportunities for Upsizing Trash Containers –Disproportionately high-cost large cans lead to contamination of recycling and green carts and dumping.
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report
Oakland Public Works Illegal Dumping Management Team
Keep Oakland Clean and Beautiful Division
• Illegal Dumping Unit (Reactive, Proactive, & Homeless Encampment teams) • Street Sweeping
• Environmental Enforcement Unit
• Collaboration with EMT
Parks and Tree Services Division
Environmental Services Division
• Recycling and Solid Waste Unit
• Stewardship Program
https://www.oaklandca.gov/departments/public-works
Oakland Public Works – Illegal Dumping Report