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Post by iguanamamma on Jun 13, 2008 14:51:52 GMT -5
She was nice as she loaded 120 gallons into her truck and tried to explain to me that there had been some kind of misunderstanding. This all started six weeks ago when the city (I live in a DUMB city) wanted to try out a new trash pick up system. They gave everybody on both sides of the street a new 90 gallon container to put their trash in. We put our trash out in the container but that same day I yelled at a speeding punk in a small pick up to slow his *** down. The next day our new "city" trash can was gone. We reported it stolen and assumed the pick-up truck punk took it. What really happened was that someone realized that our side of the street wasn't included in the study and came and got our can. They did not get any of the neighbors cans just ours. After we called for over 5 weeks for a new can we were told we weren't in the study. I told them that I had been putting out only one 30 gallon can and praying that it would get picked up. I complained that I wasn't getting much trash service. They told me to put out whatever I needed to and they would pick it up. Yesterday was trash day but only for those with the new city cans. Apparently, the trash truck drivers complained that I had regular cans and not the city cans and they could not pick up my trash and everybody else on my side of the street had city cans. The trash supervisor brought me a city can today. It holds 90 gallons. I haven't yet calculated how much trash I can put out in that can along with my regular cans. Remember. I don't really count because I'm not in the study. All I can say is let the full cans roll!  |
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Post by messysue on Jun 13, 2008 14:53:53 GMT -5
What a big hassle!!
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Post by chronic on Jun 14, 2008 13:33:47 GMT -5
They are rolling out this new trash system where I live too. We'll have one 90 gallon can for trash and one for recyclables. We won't be allowed to put out anything over the 90 gallons.. if we have xtra we have to wait until the next pickup and they'll only be picking up once a week now. This has me in a bit of a panic!!! They haven't started it in my area yet but a few streets over they have so I think we're going to get it soon!
I just better get the major de-squaloring done before then, because I cannot afford a dumpster rental and right now, we have about 20 bags of trash lined up against the back fence, waiting to be put out into the alley for Monday's pickup. I will probably quadruple that amount before we're done with this house! I know that after the new system is in place, if I let it get bad again, I'll just have to live with the trash.. literally! Ack!
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Post by metamorpha on Jun 14, 2008 18:26:25 GMT -5
Well, I'm glad you're getting the mess straightened out. I hate when bureaucracy gets in the way of progress!
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Post by onwardandupward on Jun 14, 2008 18:59:45 GMT -5
It is a scary thought - limiting the amount of trash we can get rid of, but once I get things cleaned and sorted out, that type of limit would help me not pile up too much additional trash. I will have to stay on top of things when I move to a house. I am going to throw out as much as I can before the move!
Thanks for bringing up this subject. Very timely for me.
Onward
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Post by crazycatlady on Jun 15, 2008 21:44:52 GMT -5
We live in a rural area, so we have to pay for our trash pickup. The cost has doubled in the 11 years we have been here!  We have a limit of how much we can put out, but if we put extra they are supposed to take it, and just charge us extra on the next quarterly bill. We usually only have extra if we forgot to put it out one week!
And if we call them to warn them, they will pick up just about anything, like a huge loveseat, and add it to the next bill, too!
Maybe you can ask around, and see if any neighbors have extra space in their containers? Another suggestion I saw at Squalor Survivors was to take the trash in shopping bags, and dump it whenever you stop at gas stations, etc.
I guess I would warn anyone if they think they cannot get all their trash picked up, to sort stinky from non-stinky trash, and be certain the stinky stuff goes out weekly.
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Post by Mystic Pegasus on Jun 15, 2008 23:51:36 GMT -5
I wish we could have 90 gallons! That sounds like luxury! You guys will still be heaps better off than we are! For years now, we (Adelaide, Australia) have been cut down to a weekly pick-up of allocated bins, which are 140 litres- which equated to about 37 gallons! And no more, any which way! And they definitely don't take stuff like furniture etc. If it's not in the bin, it doesn't go... and the bin lid has to fit down shut pretty flat, not open.
Our recycling bin (fortnightly pick-up) is almost double that size. It annoys me that we can't even put out more recycling... you'd think the more we could recycle, rather than ending up having to put it in the trash because it won't fit in the recycling bin, the better!
Plus we have a fortnightly *green* bin, for lawn clippings, garden offcuts etc... which the council them mulches and makes money out of.
In this area we get one free small trailer load of *hard rubbish* we can take to the dump per year... or we can pay $10 to have a small load collected from our home. Any more than that, we pay at the dump... and it's probably more like $50 a car load, not $5. I know a trailer load my sister had cost about $80.
It's a shame there isn't a special service available to people who have these problems and are wanting to change their situation... surely it would be in the interest of the community at large to get the excess trash/junk out! I think largely it's an ignored problem... especially if it's not obvious from the outside.
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Post by canna on Jun 16, 2008 6:51:18 GMT -5
In our area, we have the trash/recycle/furniture/rug pickup once a week -ours is Tuesday mornings. Instread of individual billing, we must buy stickers for the bags and funiture/rug pickup. Recycle bins are given to new residents in our condo complex, and no real limit on how many recycle bins: for glass plastic and paper you have, even if you buy them yourself. That's pretty good, and no extra stickers are needed for the recycle bins.
The stickers are for bagged garbage and are $2.20 each. That would be for each black, 30 gallon black bag which most residents use. Larger garbage containers are available for trash, at a cost rental yearly from the village. I don't use the large containers, just the black bags.
There are really 3 crews that come around on trash day, the recycle trucks, the garbage trucks and then the trucks for heavy furniture, rugs, etc. All is taken. However, each large rolled rug must have a sticker on it, and so does every furniture item. The same type of sticker. So, that can be costly$$ if you have rug remnants from remodeling!
Since everything is taken by our pickup service, it's really no major problem.
However, NO sticker, NO pickup (except recycle bins).
There are also some people, scrap collectors, who tour the area in their pickups looking for scrap. And boy they are out there early, way before the other trucks come for pickup. Those people are free to take things, even tagged furniture! There haven't been any problems with damage, vandals, etc.
The problem arises, however with those who put their garbage/pickup recycle out days early. Pickup is on Tuesday, and some have their stuff out there the prior Saturday.
I think our village system works pretty well, even through those $2.20 stickers can add up.
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Post by dragonchilde on Jun 16, 2008 16:23:03 GMT -5
Wow, I never thought about how lucky I am. I'm in a fairly large city, and we have weekly pickup. If I think about it, I can stuff four full 30 gallon trash bags in there, plus a little more if I work at it. They'll also pick up some stuff, if it's obvious it's for the trash, and not to big. This morning I put out a non-functional lamp that had been sitting on our porch for weeks, and they took it. They don't charge extra. It really depends on the guys in the truck, though, and you can't try to make them do too much work.  One lamp is one thing, but my neighbors have a pile of like thirty full bags in their driveway that's been there for MONTHS that they haven't touched. My mom hadn't paid the garbage fees in years, though, so now they're threatening to sell the house over the $2,000 back fees. |
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Post by carolinastomper on Jun 16, 2008 19:14:43 GMT -5
There are many things about my city that I have a problem with, but overall, trash pickup is not one of them. We have 2 90-gal cans: 1 for recycling, and 1 for trash. My street has 1 pickup a week on Fridays (the recycling can is only picked up every other week), but whatever trash is put out by the street is picked up as well, quantities are not limited. There are certain items such as paint cans, electronics, tires, etc that have to be taken to a special center but there is no charge for that. Yard waste is also picked up, as long as it is required managable size and tied. Now, if I could only get the stuff OUT of the HOUSE on INTO the GARBAGE TRUCK.
carolinastomper
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rhall
New Member
Joined: June 2008
Posts: 18
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Post by rhall on Jun 18, 2008 10:59:26 GMT -5
My city went the Official Can route and within a year or two, all the local dumps doubled their fees. There was nowhere else to take big things like worn out furniture. You can see now that almost every store locks its dumpsters. Thousands of people were desperate and had nowhere else so they threw large items into the nearest dumpster they could.
Where can we throw away major trash that won't fit into a 90 gallon can? Does anyone seriously think it won't be thrown out in the dead of night if it has to? I put mattresses and box springs in the back alley of a thrift shop. I felt ashamed but I couldn't afford $60 to throw it away and there was no free place anywhere for big things. A clerk told me the thrift shop got a special deal on their dumpsters so I took the path of least harm as well as I could.
As for recycle bins - tramps and thieves prowl the place weekly, stealing all the best recyclables. You can't get police to do anything about it and while they're there, they sometimes steal anything they can get their hands on. After every garbage day, you find an increase in cars broken into.
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Post by angelinahedgehog on Jun 18, 2008 13:12:11 GMT -5
Bear with me for a moment, please. 1 US gallon is 231 cubic inches. 90 gallons is 20790 cubic inches. According to Sleepys.com, a twin mattress is 39" by 75", and a queen mattress is 60" by 80". Mattress depths can vary quite a bit, but 8" is fairly standard. That means that a twin mattress is about 23400 cubic inches, and a queen mattress is about 38400 cubic inches. That's a little over 90 gallons for the twin, a little under two 90 gallon containers for the queen. And the box springs will compress even more. IKEA sells flat pack furniture that takes up much less space in the box than when it is assembled: assembled tables and shelves are mostly air. My mother and my grandmother used to throw away amazing amounts of stuff simply by dismantling it. The trash collectors might not have been allowed to pick up a mattress, but if the mattress met up with a utility knife and the box spring encountered a rotary saw... They could put pieces into trash bags, and away they would go. Some things (metal bedframes, mirrors) can't be handled this way, but there's a surprising amount that can be dismantled with just a utility knife, a screwdriver, and a hammer. They also were able to chip away at things. There was a pile of sand at one point. Half a shovelful into each green bag - not enough to make the bag too heavy - and over the course of the summer, that sand disappeared. So you may not need to search for unsuspecting dumpsters to get rid of your bulky stuff. You may be able to break it into pieces small enough to go into regular trash collection. |
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luucy
New Member
Joined: June 2008
Posts: 20
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Post by luucy on Jun 18, 2008 23:13:13 GMT -5
Canna,
You are freaking me out a bit. I live in a "village" we have tags, there are three crews who pick up, my pick up is on Tuesday. Your tag isn't by chance lime green and now is able to be used for yard waste as well as refuse (recent change). We have major scavengers in pickups coming around as well. I thought our tag was much higher than 2.20 tho. I want to say it is 2.80 or 3.10, it keeps rising.
Luu
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Post by crazycatlady on Jun 20, 2008 22:53:33 GMT -5
Actually, the scavengers can be GREAT! Just set your "still maybe useful" items in a box next to the trash or recycle bin. They might take old shoes, knick knacks, books, etc etc etc. I know we got rid of quite a bit last summer by setting it near the road and marking it FREE!
I LOVE scavengers!
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