Illegal Dumping on Maple Street

Mansfield Police discovered 48 discarded (and mostly full) paint cans on the side of Maple Street earlier this week.

The Mansfield DPW looked through the trash bags to find some sort of identifying material to find out who was the owner of the trash, but nothing has turned up yet.

"I'm guessing it was someone trying to avoid the cost of disposing these stuff properly," Neil Rhein executive director of said.

The paint was an oil based paint, which, unlike vinyl-based paint that can be dried up and thrown away like any other trash item, requires special handling when disposing.

Rhein said that he believed that, due to the volume of the waste, this was done by a company and not a private individual.

"It wasn't just someone clearing out their garage," he said.

Rhein said that if anyone sees similar activity in Mansfield to call to help discourage the behavior.