Waste management is a big deal for seniors aging in place. If you’re going to fix meals and order stuff from Amazon, you will have lots of trash. Most everything you get online arrives in a cardboard box. Grocery products come in cardboard packages, or plastic containers. You can hire household help for most chores, but it’s not easy finding someone to get your trash from point A to B. And in our case, point C, because the trash can has to be dragged out to the street on pick up day. However, our Thursday trash pick up was canceled due to the big storm. Come Friday and Saturday, the cans were still frozen shut. By Sunday, we figured the city could send someone to empty our trash. Didn’t happen. Turns out they’re skipping a whole week. Was the waste management company paid for a week of doing nothing? And do trash collectors owe us a refund?

DO TRASH COLLECTORS OWE US A REFUND? They skipped a whole week of waste management.

Here was Republic’s official statement:

“All routes were suspended due to hazardous conditions caused by inclement weather. Routes will resume on the next regular service day.”

So, instead of picking up one weeks’ worth of trash, they’ll be picking up after two weeks.. Unfortunately, they won’t empty overflowing trash cans. So, some of us may have to find another way to get rid of our pile of extra trash

It may seem like a small matter, but it’s not.

According to Mayor Bennett, the city of Terre Haute has a 2.6 million dollar annual contract with Republic Services for waste removal As a result. Republic receives around $50,000 a week for trash collection in the city. Since they didn’t have to do anything for one week, you can look at it as either a bonus or a big cost savings for them. Will they reimburse the city? I doubt it.

The pathetic thing was the lack of communication. A statement from the mayor or Republic Services could have come across the 6 o’clock news. But no one in charge told us anything at all. Only by checking on the internet could you find their official statement. Word of mouth doesn’t work well when you’re isolated due to a surge in covid cases and a major winter storm.

Does Republic owe the taxpayers a refund? I think so. Or maybe a bottle of champagne delivered to your door

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve been getting some pretty scary weather here in the Midwest. Like, tornados in Kentucky. And high velocity winds barreling through towns . Last night, the wind was so strong that it blew down the trash cans I had set out along the street. Remember, we’re seniors who finally persuaded the city to give us two smaller cans instead of one big one. That was a fight we finally won. However, the waste management company isn’t happy with us. They showed us their ire by refusing to pick up our trash this morning. The city bypassed windblown senior trash cans.

City bypassed windblown senior trash cans. They didn’t care that two seniors would be left in the lurch.

There are usually two, strong, able bodied men in the trash collector’s truck. However, they rely totally on automation to pick up the cans. A big old vise that reaches out its claws, picks up the cans, then dumps the contents. Often , they then throw back the empty cans, leaving them on the ground. At any rate, when the truck passed our driveway early this morning, they could easily see that the strong wind had blown over our skinny trash cans, leaving bags lying in puddles of water. Did they care in the least? Hardly They turned up their noses and drove right on by, knowing full well they were leaving two seniors in the lurch. What were they expecting us to do? And why couldn’t they have stepped out of their comfort zone, got out of the truck, and set the cans upright?

I took a few deep breaths to control my anger, got dressed, walked out in the rain and set the cans upright, closing the lids. Then I called Republic at some out of state number. The person answering the phone thought I was calling from Indianapolis. I guess that’s what my address in Indiana made her think. Anyway, I told her what had happened, and she was kind enough to get in touch with the local office, She said she would take care of it, and she did. A few minutes later, I looked out the window and saw the cans had been emptied. Thank you, ma’am.

What if I hadn’t been awake early this morning while the trucks were still in the vicinity.? What would we have done about our trash for the coming week? It’s disgusting that the city would bypass windblown senior trash cans.

Tag: waste management

DO TRASH COLLECTORS OWE US A REFUND?

CITY BYPASSED WINDBLOWN SENIOR TRASH CANS