HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — There’s a smelly situation at a Carrollwood apartment complex, where hundreds of bags of garbage are piling up and residents tell us it's been like that for days.
“That's the tallest mountain in Florida right there,” jokes Andrew Benson, pointing to the huge pile of garbage behind him.
That mountain has been growing one bag and buzzing bee at a time.
Residents say the pile started before Christmas.
The garbage heap is inside the upscale Park at Lake Magdalene apartment complex, which advertises lake views and luxury living.
Discarded poinsettias, a pair of lobster shorts and empty Barbie boxes are mixed with broken eggs and rotting food and potentially attracting rats and bugs.
“It's a health hazard, don't you think?” said Faith Smith.
“If we start getting some rats and bugs, we can maybe get lower rent,” Sebastian Coladonato said.
The rent at the complex is between $1,300 for a studio to $2,700 a month for a three-bedroom apartment.
“All they charge and fees that we pay every month and this is what we get? This?” one woman yelled from a car as she passed by the mound.
“You pay for this. That's the worst. You pay for this,” another resident said.
According to maintenance workers, an equipment malfunction is to blame.
According to a manager, the complex’s garbage compactor malfunctioned last week and no one was available to repair it due to the holidays.
By Thursday morning, a large container arrived to hold the trash.
But we still observed multiple people throwing garbage bags into the pile.
“This is something that occurs on a regular basis and it's because the trash compactor is too small for the entire complex here,” Smith said.
“It's something you can expect. It's the holidays. Obviously, everybody's going to be throwing a party. People are looking to have family over. So it's not unexpected to have a large amount of trash to dispose,” said Benson.
When we returned to the complex later Thursday afternoon, the grumbling residents were gone, replaced by employees of the complex wearing gloves, loading trash bags into that large bin.
Residents said it will be a welcome relief to see the garbage gone and they hope not to have similar issues in the future.
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