Picky trash haulers (gwinnett) (Atlanta, Duluth: cul-de-sac, fit in, sale)

[cittic10]

Since the waste hauling mandate was put into effect, we had to change to S.S.S.
I noticed they seem to be extremely picky about what they will accept and I watch them literally digging through the trash and hesitating, sometimes asking the other guy if they should take it. (or at least that's what it looks like he's asking)

Has anyone else noticed this same kind of behavior from the other haulers?

I used to have Waste Industries and was paying a little less. They would take anything. The neighbors once left a king size mattress set at the curb on pickup day and they crammed it in the garbage truck. They used to leave mounds of unbagged junk they couldn't sell in a garage sale and they'd sometimes spend like 10 minutes picking it all up.

I had robertson too years ago and never saw them dig through the trash or turn down a reasonable amount of additional trash occasionally.

Now this new private hauler we're required to use won't even take more than one container and I suspect they are hesitating because of the occasional garden waste that goes in there. One time they refused to empty the can because it had a cut piece of 2x4 in it. They didn't take the wood out and leave it, they just left it all! It seems like if the goal was to reduce illegal littering, the county would require the hauler to take every last bit of it, not nit pick over this and that.

[ATLTJL]

I have Robertson. So long as it fits in one of their bags, they pretty much take anything.

Of course, some things don't fit in their bags.

Therefore, I have become intimately familiar with local apartment complexes that have dumpsters, but no security gates.

[cittic10]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I have Robertson. So long as it fits in one of their bags, they pretty much take anything.

Of course, some things don't fit in their bags.

Their bags????

[ATLTJL]

Yep.

The city of Duluth as a strange deal with Robertson. The deal is, we don't pay anything for trash pick-up. Instead, we have to buy special bags sold by the city (at any grocery store) and they cost about $1 per bag. So you only pay for what you use.

At first I thought it was a crazy system, and then I learned the logic for it and thought it was pretty well thought out. See, recycling bins are free and there is no charge for their pick-up. So the pay per load idea encourages more recycling and less throwing away.

Of course, a side effect is the occasional having to find and unguarded dumpster for items that don't fit neatly in trash bags. But the plus side is I doubt I spend more than $50 or $60 per year on trash pick-up.

[cittic10]

I'm jealous.

[ATLTJL]

It's one of the neat things about living in a city.

Gwinnett county is probably too big to write a contract with a single hauler, and probably too corrupt to do so fairly. Duluth sort of had to deal with the private hauling situation, but didn't want loud trucks of many companies constantly rumbling down the streets. Also, everybody uses different pick up days, so if you have multiple options, SOMEBODY has their trash on the curb pretty much every day of the week. So the city picks a hauler and writes a contract every year. To be honest, I'm not even positive it's Robinson anymore, it was when I moved in.

This system wouldn't work for everybody. You have to have faith in your city leaders, which I do. I had a problem a couple of years ago where Robertson wasn't doing a very good job emptying the recycling bins fully and I would find random pieces of paper blowing around when they were done. I shot an email to the city's trash commissioner who promised he would take care of the problem immediately, and he did.

Stuff like this is why I take complaints of the "balkanization" of Atlanta with a grain of salt. I love having a small city hall that I can go to with problems. They are accountable and work well with the community. I can't even imagine trying to tackle something like this with a county, even though Gwinnett is good compared to Dekalb and Fulton.

I remember when I lived in the city of Atlanta I tended to get decent results dealing with my individual Atlanta legislator. He wasn't able to help with most things, but he was genuinely sympathetic and always got back to me quickly. I felt kind of bad for him being the Buckhead representative, because I always pictured him on the opposite side of most issues from other parts of Atlanta.

[cittic10]

I'm even more jealous of Hall county's policy on it.
Residents of hall county aren't forced to pay for trash removal. They have their choice of haulers (uninc areas) or if they want to DIY you can take the trash to a compactor site. And the dump in hall county is the cheapest one around if you aren't a resident.

[cwkimbro]

well I'm in Lilburn. They seem to take anything and everything. If we have stuff overflowing out of our bin or boxes stacked beside it. Our service is essentially completely unchanged from what it was when we paid for it separate from the county plan.

The county's contract with the haulers stipulates they have to take a wide variety of things, a wide variety of recycables, large items. It also stipulates people have to make an effort to recycle and split up yard waste. However, this isn't really a trash plan change. We started trying to seperate out yard waste from trash years before the trash plan.

Our landfills were (and still are) filling up extremely fast. It was an effort to make them last longer.

One change I looove... we use to have a trash truck come down our street 4 times a week. Now it is one and only one. (Our street dead ends into a "mini cul-de-sac" and trucks have to very slowly and carefully back up down the entire street)

two things... if you don't recycle... Do.... just make sure you have a few things to throw into those mini-bins, so they can't claim you aren't doing so.

Secondly, don't be afraid to contact the county. If a hauler isn't holding up to their contract with the county and is causing problems they will/can choose a different hauler in the next contract.

Oh yea... and I read somewhere that the haulers are allowed to use multiple trucks for various things... yard waste, large items, regular bins, recyclables, etc... They are still suppose to pick it up, but there could have been some miscommunication on that companies part. I know the website says to contact each hauler for picking up bulky items (anything that doesnt fit into the cart) separately, but I have never had to.

and two things... I think they are allowed to charge more for more trash than the 95-gallon cart can hold and you have to elect and pay a little extra for yard waste.

Here is the county's list of things a hauler isn't suppose to be picked up:

• Hazardous waste
• Aerosol cans that are not empty
• Large glass panes
• Biomedical waste
• Construction/demolition waste
• Large tree debris
• Tires
• Compressed gas cylinders
• Stumps
• Paint
• Large engine parts
• Ammunition of any type
• Paint solvents
• Chemicals
• Small engine parts containing oil or fluids
• Treated wood
• Chemicals
• Dead animals (over 10 pounds)
• Firearms

A couple of these things touches on some of the things you mentioned....

[cittic10]

@ cwkimbro,

I have called up the new solid waste department to complain about other matters. They have been helpful in resolving my problems.

Even though they have a list of items they won't collect, my reason for posting is because they are actually looking through the trash for these items. Well, at least S.S.S. is.
I'm worried about putting mail and all the junk credit card applications in there. I've never seen the trash collectors so interested in what's in there that it has me concerned. They're taking stuff out of the bin by hand and looking deep down inside it. I have also seen them take certain items and put them inside the cabin of the truck.

I'm in a cul de sac too and the number of garbage trucks driving down the street never bothered me. As it is, we have 4 or 5 school busses going in and out twice a day, every day. We have ups, sometimes more than once a day and fedex ground, fedex home delivery and fedex express, just about daily. Nobody ever complains about that stuff and they go flying through the neighborhood much faster than a garbage truck that stops at every house.

Like the majority of the people that spoke up at the hearings, I'd rather have the ability to pick what day the trash is picked up and also change providers if I'm not happy with their service. As it stands now, I can do neither. I can't even opt of of the trash pickup. I still have to pay for it.