Olney not sold on new trash cans

Olney residents brought more complaints to the City about the switchover from community dumpsters to single- household poly carts with problems ranging from the illegal use of business dumpsters to senior citizens’ difficulties in maneuvering the carts to garbage trucks tearing up property.

One resident, who asked not to be named, complained to the City Council that people have been dumping large cardboard boxes in their commercial dumpster since Olney’s garbage contractor, Waste Connections, forced the switch from large, shared alley dumpsters to the 90-gallon poly carts.

The resident warned the City Council at its July 10 meeting that the problem would only get worse closer to the holidays “One of the things I’m seeing as a resident and a commercial business dumpster owner is we are getting a lot of boxes, a lot of other people’s trash in our commercial dumpster,” the resident said. “I drove through town, and I noticed there was a 50-inch TV box at the grain elevator in their commercial dumpster. I hope those guys are getting to watch a 50-inch TV, but I kind of doubt it.”

Another resident dropped off an anonymous letter with a list of complaints at City Hall about the polycarts. It noted that the polycarts were attracting flies, maggots and ants closer to residences, and tended to “fall over and spill but also [are] hard to turn back upward for some.”

Elderly and disabled people were having trouble rolling them out to the curb, especially if they lived on hills, the letter said. “Main Street on Olney on trash day does not reflect anything to people driving continued from page 1

through but an unsightly mess,” the resident wrote.

The letter also took issue with Waste Connections’ removal of recycling dumpsters and end-of-alley dumpsters that “most used for excess [trash].”

The taller, front-loading dumpsters that Waste Connections now uses in apartment communities are too high and the covers are too heavy for elderly people to lift and put trash bags into, and the trash company’s placement of the dumpsters blocks views, wheelchair ramps and play areas for children, the resident wrote.

The Council discussed several suggested solutions, including adding another trash pickup day per week, and adding neighborhood dumpsters at the ends of alleys for large or excess items.

Mayor Rue Rogers acknowledged that the switch to polycarts has not been without problems. Olney was the last of Waste Management’s clients to use community dumpsters, he said. The decision to switch to individual trash receptacles was the result of abuse of the dumpster system, a complicated billing system and Waste Connections’ preference for the smaller bins.

“Thanks for bringing those suggestions,” Mayor Rogers said. “I like the recycling ideas but Waste Connections has turned us down due to the number of violations we had when we had them in town, but maybe in time we will be able to regain that. You offered some good ideas that we need to look into if we haven’t already.”

City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon noted that businesses can order dumpsters with locks to keep people from dumping trash into them. “They give you the locking option when you order it,” she said.

The City also could consider ordering a roll-off dumpster for recycling and placing it at the Olney Convenience Station, where it could be monitored by staff on site to make sure that recycling and trash were properly separated. The City lost its recycling dumpsters last year because people were throwing trash into the recycling containers, she said.

“When [Waste Connections] drivers go to dump it at the recycling location hopefully we don’t get any violations and then get charged back for it,” she said. That recycling option, and the idea to make a large roll-off available for construction debris would cost the city extra money, she added.

“Who would pay for that?” Mayor Rogers said. “We don’t know all the answers but … we need to think outside the box. Are there some solutions that could help streamline the trash so that people aren’t piling up trash where the dumpsters used to be?”