NY trash ‘recycler’ avoids $79,000 in fines after ridding her yard of other people’s rubbish

NY trash ‘recycler’ avoids $79K in clutter fines

JOHNSON CITY, N.Y. — A woman in an upstate New York village nearly had to pay $79,000 in fines for her hobby of picking through curbside trash and piling the items in her yard.

Karen Herzog calls herself a trash “recycler” — recovering everything from typewriters to porcelain figurines to discarded bricks.

She’s donated much of it to the Salvation Army or found ways to use the objects at her home outside of Binghamton.

But neighbors in Johnson City didn’t appreciate the heap of clutter in her yard and reported her for code violations.

Herzog was recently told in village court she’d have to pay $79,000 unless she got rid of everything except a broken wicker chair and a flower pot.

The garbage is gone. But Herzog says she’s now considering reporting her neighbors for code violations.

Information from: Press & Sun-Bulletin, www.pressconnects.com