Citizens battle trash scofflaws

“This is illegal,’’ Paul said and whipped out a cellphone. In seconds, she had a city official on the line taking down the address. A code enforcement officer who could root through the trash to determine who dumped it would be alerted to write a ticket.

Such calls have become a part of Paul’s routine, and she is among the ranks of many across the city who have recently helped trigger a crackdown by complaining about what they say are unacceptable amounts of trash on the streets and heaped on sidewalks.

A city program launched in April has code enforcement officers fanning out across Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Chinatown, Downtown, and the South End. They have written thousands of citations — ranging from $25 to $1,000 — for infractions, including illegal dumping and improper storage of trash in open containers or paper shopping bags.

More than 1,600 tickets were issued in the North End from April 12 through Aug. 4, according to figures from the Boston Inspectional Services Department. The South End/Roxbury had more than 1,100 tickets, and Beacon Hill and the Back Bay had nearly 2,000.

Officials have also fired off letters in East Boston reminding residents about their responsibility to properly dispose of trash and warning that the city is prepared to use everything in its power to go after offenders, including the recent “green ticket’’ law passed by the state, which allows minor fines such as trash violations to be added on to a building owner’s property tax bills.

The goal, city officials said, is to curb garbage problems across the city and prevent rodent problems from growing.

“The whole idea is to educate people,’’ said Michael Mackan, the chief of the city code enforcement police at the Inspectional Services Department. “Hopefully we can get people to have a uniform way of handling and disposing trash.’’

Complaints about trash in the streets have been particularly vehement in the North End, a small neighborhood packed with restaurants and cafes, some 12,000 residents, and throngs of tourists — and a place where some recall a time when people swept the walks in front of their homes.

“It’s not like what it used to be because it’s so dirty,’’ said Rocco Lograsso, a 63-year-old North End barber pointing to cigarette butts and candy wrappers on Salem Street.

In the effort to clean up, blame for trash has been pointed in many directions — at absentee landlords who don’t look after their properties, at businesses that don’t sweep in front of their stores, and at the city. Some say city street sweepers sit idle on the job, and some residents say there are too few trash bins for the hundreds who trek through the neighborhood each day. Even when bins are in sight, people often toss their litter on the ground, they say.

“It’s just an ignorant upbringing,’’ said Alberto Alba, who owns Alba Produce. “I was taught that if I had trash I should either put it in my pocket or find a barrel. I don’t think a lot of people are taught that.’’

Some residents who live amid the historic sites and popular restaurants are taking it on themselves to spot trash scofflaws. Paul’s clean streets committee has been spreading the word, handing out awards to businesses that clean up and urging merchants to spend 10 minutes a day sweeping. Recently residents were sent letters about the trash rules. Everything works a little, Paul said, but not enough.

On her walk earlier last week, Paul was busy on her phone reporting cardboard boxes and fillers dumped on Fleet Street, as well as bags farther down on Hanover Street. Because of its high concentration of businesses and residents, the North End has three trash pickup days. But people dump their rubbish on the streets anyway, she said.

On Salem Street, Paul spotted more garbage bags. She tossed them back into the hallway of an apartment building, confident the owner of the contents lives there.

“I don’t think people think about’’ what they are doing, she said. “I don’t think they get that this is a neighborhood and that above these restaurants, people live here.’’

Meghan Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.