Nearly 60,000 pounds of trash were removed from a Colorado homeless encampment located up a mountainside in Glenwood Springs. Trash piled up to eight feet deep in some spots, with items removed ranging from soiled mattresses to camping propane tanks to used hypodermic needles. 

Cleanup efforts took more than a 1,000 hours of work to complete, according to the press release.

The project cost a total of $87,250, which was overseen by Garfield County Environmental Health Department. Numerous shelters were removed from the camp along with ten filled 30-yard roll-off trash receptacles. A five-gallon bucket was also used for disposing of hypodermic needles.

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ECOS Environmental & Disaster Restoration, Inc. was awarded the contract to complete cleanup within 30 days, according to the press release.

Hundreds of small camping propane tanks and 34 five-gallon refillable propane tanks were found discarded in the encampment area, leading to the suspicion of illegal dumping. 

Garfield County Environmental Health Manager Josh Williams told the Board of County Commissioners the magnitude of trash and steep terrain made the cleanup very difficult, and at times dangerous.

“In some parts of this area there was eight feet of debris; there was trash strewn about everywhere,” Williams said. “We managed to get some heavy equipment up in the initial ravine to help break some of the trash up. The campsites and tarp structures have been removed, and halfway up the mountain there were mattresses and furniture that are now gone.”