Long Hunter State Park in Hermitage is getting a kind of traffic no one asked for: old boats, roofing shingles, wooden pallets, a couch, and even a refrigerator are showing up near park entrances and access roads as illegal dumpers treat the place like a free landfill. Rangers say staff recently had to haul a refrigerator out of the park entrance by hand, and crews have spent hours wrestling bulky trash instead of working on trail maintenance and visitor services. They warn the growing piles are a hazard for both wildlife and people, and that the cleanup work is chewing through already limited park resources. Neighbors have reported spotting dumped material at multiple access points along Hobson Pike.
Park rangers report growing problem
According to WKRN, employees recently found a couch dropped at the park entrance and a refrigerator abandoned at a trailhead, and rangers described illegal dumping as a recurring problem across several sections of the park. The station reports that other castoff items, including old boats, shingles and pallets, have been ditched along Hobson Pike, forcing staff to pull crews from other duties for roadside cleanups. Park staff told the station that the extra workload is pulling resources away from planned maintenance projects and visitor programming.
State law and penalties
The Tennessee Solid Waste Disposal Act gives regulators some teeth, with civil penalties for illegal solid-waste disposal ranging from $100 to $5,000 per day for each day a violation continues, and the law also allows additional damages and, in some situations, criminal enforcement. FindLaw summarizes the statute and how daily violations are tallied. Local ordinances can add more fines or enforcement tools on top of state law, but rangers say the harder part is tracking down who actually leaves the waste behind.
Appliances, refrigerant and cleanup risks
Park staff told WKRN that the dumped refrigerator still contained refrigerant and had to be handled by a vendor before it could be properly disposed of, since federal rules require refrigerant to be recovered and forbid venting those chemicals into the air. EPA guidance lays out recovery and recycling practices for refrigerators and other cooled appliances and explains why appliances are not supposed to be left at the curb. Improper disposal can drive up cleanup costs and increase risks to soil and water quality.
How to report and where to take big items
Officials are urging residents to report illegal dump sites and use proper disposal options instead of leaving bulky items on roadsides or at park entrances. State advisory material lists TDEC's environmental hotline as 1-888-891-TDEC and TDOT's Nobody Trashes line as 1-877-8-LITTER for litter and roadside dumping complaints. TACIR provides additional details on how to report problem sites and where to take certain kinds of waste. The park's volunteer group helps organize regular cleanup events; schedules and contacts are posted by the Friends of Long Hunter.
Rangers say they will keep clearing out dumped items as they find them, but they emphasize that public tips and proper disposal are the fastest way to stop repeat offenders. For now, staff are asking nearby residents to use convenience centers or bulky-item pickup services and to call when they see new dump sites so park and state crews can respond quickly.
