PHILADELPHIA — Ruth Birchett never has her television or music blasting in her North Philadelphia home. She wants to be able to hear when large trucks intent on illegally dumping their loads drive through Hemberger Street behind her house.
"I listen for the trucks," she said. And when she hears them, she runs out with her key to the rear gate in one hand and her cell phone to take photos and call 311 in the other.
Over the last two years, according to the Streets Department, more than 13,000 tons of illegal waste have been dumped on thousands of sites spread throughout poor neighborhoods burying them in construction debris from housing renovations, used tires from auto shops and discarded household furnishings, much of it the result of evictions.
