I have absolutely HAD IT with our garbage pickup

[conuly]

Frequently, they'll pick up most of our bags but not all of them, forcing me to pick up those bags later. The bags are tied up, they don't have holes, I don't have more out than my neighbors... they just don't get taken.

I've tried moving where I put my garbage, positioning it for greater visibility and access. No luck. I've tried cutting down on what I put out, only putting out exactly what fits in my cans. Today they emptied one can, took the top bag out of the second... and left the rest of the bags in there. They have emptied that can before, and the bags weren't any heavier than usual.

And this isn't some problem epidemic up and down our block. As near as I can tell it's just us. I'm seriously starting to think this is some sort of weird personal grudge.

(And this is on top of the other problem which is that sometimes they'll pick up all the trash at 12:01am, and other times they'll let it sit out there until 5pm.

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Comments

[moxie_man]

A stunt like that would earn a call/visit to public works here...and then further up the "chain of command" if it wasn't rectified. And then local news outlets if need be.

[conuly]

I'm weighing that.

[kareina]

Ok, so now I am really curious: How often are they picking up your trash, what sort of stuff do you put in it, how many people in your household, and how big is your can?

Here in Luleå no one ever sets out more than what fits in their cans (big green plastic ones, which the city provides, and which live in a tidy row on the side of the road, one for each of the four houses along this stretch of road, always ready to be emptied when the city comes around), and we order pickup on an interval that suits us. When we first bought this house our can had a "4" on it, to indicate that they would be picking up the trash every four weeks, and I thought that was a bit often for the two of us, but David convinced me that it was easier to leave it there and test to see how that went than to change it and then possibly need to change it back.

As it turned out the only times we ever had that can so full that there wasn't room for more during the last week before they came to take it away was during the summer when we were doing earth cellar building, and so generating lots of empty paper bags that the concrete came in, which, due to the concrete dust, aren't recyclable. Even after Caroline moved in with us we still never came close to filling that can with normal household trash. Therefore, when she got her own apartment and moved out, and David switched to spending a bit more time there than here I called the trash company and switched to an 8-week cycle, and still am not managing to get the can to even half full before they empty it.

Here in Sweden trash is sorted:

We recycle: paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal. In my neighbourhood they don't haul that away for us, so we wash it (if it has touched food) and put it, sorted, into empty banana boxes in the shed till the boxes are full, then take the to one of the many nearby stations for dropping it off. (In town proper there is one in every neighbourhood, one or more for each apartment complex, and one at every grocery store parking lot.)

Compost goes out in a separate (brown plastic) bin, and is taken every other week, no matter how much people generate. It gets turned into some sort of fuel. The city provides, free of charge, small bio-degradable plastic bags in which to put one's compost before carrying it to the bin.

"Burnable" trash is "none of the above", but not special handling either. The city burns it and uses the energy thus generated for... something. That is what goes into the green cans. Since we generate so little of it the little under-sink can where it goes before being taken out to the can by the side of the road tends to go two or three weeks before it is full enough to bother taking out, so I always wash anything dirty before putting it there.

Special handel are things like batteries, light bulbs, ceramic, broken furniture, motor oil containers, etc. Things that cant, or shouldn't be burned in the trash burning station. These items one needs to take to the dump oneself, where they have sorting stations for all of it.

Every so often I compare this to my house in Alaska in the 1970's, when everything went, unwashed, into the same large kitchen can till the bag was so full it could barely be tied, and the trash stank fairly badly, before being put out the back door to wait for trash day, when, if we remembered, we would carry it to the curb, stopping to pick up lose things that had fallen out when the neighbourhood dogs ripped the bags open to get to something they thought smelled interesting (never mind that our back yard was fenced). I am so glad to have left those times behind me forever! I like the fact that my trash doesn't stink, and isn't being scattered all over by animals.

[conuly]

Twice a week, and one of those days they pick up recyclables and furniture (by appointment) as well.

Edit: Oh, and if you have electronics or hazardous waste you bring it to a special event. And sometimes compost as well.

[kareina]

How do you manage to generate more than one small bag of trash to be picked up if they take it twice a week? How many people are in your house?

[conuly]

Five - and most people on the block put out about as much as we do without also trying to clean out the crap other people left in their first floor and years of accumulated junk from the basement and attic.

Just passing by

[lusentoj]

Oh, you live in Lule! Hej från Uppsala!! (Though right now I'm in Japan...) I have family from Karesuando and Kiruna and stuff.

Re: Just passing by

[kareina]

Hej! Jag hoppas att du har det roligt i japan.

[lusentoj]

tack, det är redan otroligt mycket bättre än livet var i sverige i alla fall (där var jag o min fru arbetslösa i 5 år!!! bland annat)

[lilysea]

And this isn't some problem epidemic up and down our block. As near as I can tell it's just us. I'm seriously starting to think this is some sort of weird personal grudge.

Could it be because they expected some kind of tip/gift at Christmas, and didn't receive one (or, they did receive one, but weren't satisfied with it)?

That wouldn't justify it, but it might explain it...

[conuly]

I'm pretty sure Sanitation isn't even allowed to get tips/gifts.

[dark_phoenix54]

That is deeply bizarre about the trash. Did you once leave a skunk out in the trash or something? ;-)

[conuly]

I HAVE NO IDEA.

[greghousesgf]

Some of my neighbors are real pigs. They dump trash in the hall on the floor or leave it on top of the garbage can instead of in it.

[archersangel]

one time our garbage guys didn't pick up ANYTHING for 3 weeks.
i called to complain every time, just got an "i'm sorry." but it kept happening. finally my dad saw them over the hill at the neighbors & dragged the cans out in the middle of the road, the driver stopped to pick them up and apologized to my dad saying he was new.

[conuly]

I WOULD BE LIVID

[adafrog]

WTF?

[conuly]

That is what I would like to know.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Do you call to complain every time they do this? What do they say?

If it doesn't stop, start taking pictures of the problem, and direct your complaints higher up the corporate food-chain. If it's a weird personal grudge, somebody needs to get fired.

[conuly]

You know how I feel about phone calls. Until this last shenanigan I was holding out hope that it was just a weird coincidence, that they were somehow overlooking items. It's not every single time, after all.

But... I mean... c'mon.