INC NEWS - Trash Pickup

[Colin Crossman]

All-

I am writing to express my concern regarding the new policies in the 
Solid Waste department.  Formerly, people would trail the truck and 
would bring the bins to the truck.  The city has since begun to use 
trucks equipped with a mechanical arm to pick up the trash bins.  
Perhaps due to the use of these new trucks, it appears now that having a 
vehicle parked within 10 feet of a trash bin is sufficient to cause the 
bin to be left full.

My concern is this: in communities, such as Walltown, where the primary 
parking area is on the street, there is little room left for the trash 
bins to be placed to satisfy this constraint.  Additionally, as many of 
us have jobs during the day, there is nothing that we can do to prevent 
a neighbor or a visitor from parking in a way so as to prevent pickup of 
our trash bin.  For example, I noticed that on Clarendon street alone, 
between 1/4 and 1/2 of the trash bins were not collected last Thursday, 
judging by the number of green tags on bins.

This is unacceptable and it is a health hazard.  It is easy for anyone 
to see that the use of this method of mechanical arm trash collection is 
improper for communities where primary parking is curbside.  The Solid 
Waste department should rethink it's approach to implementing these 
devices, and retask them to communities that have are more suited for 
them, such as those where people have driveways.

Thank you,
Colin Crossman
Walltown