City of Sturgeon Bay Municipal Services employees never know what they'll find at the compost pile come morning. Recently, they found a toilet that someone decorated with a flower arching out of the bowl. The site is open 24 hours which can be a great convenience for city residents but it can also be a source of abuse. City employees do not monitor the pile day and night and, in the off hours, the dumping intensifies. City employees are putting up signs at the site to remind residents what is legal and what isn't. There's a cost to that. Municipal Services Director Mike Barker says roughly a thousand pounds of trash are dumped per week. There's a cost for that as well.

Barker says that if the issues are not resolved the worst-case scenario is that the compost pile loses its 24-hour status and would be open only during city business hours.