MONROE - It's good; it's bad; it's a little bit strange. Conclusions about the new waste and recycling carts and pickup schedule are mixed as residents in Monroe got their first taste of using an automated system that began July 22.
City residents at the Behring Senior Center Thursday, July 1 were willing to interrupt their card games to comment on the system. They echoed many of the same comments found on The Monroe Times' Facebook page this past week, with remarks on the size of the carts, the infrequency of recycling pickups, unknown problems coming with the winter snow, and ... the neighbors.
"It looks like some kind of science fiction story as I drive down the street," one senior citizen said about the bulky, alien-looking trash carts lined up along the streets.
"Change is hard," she said. "It'll take time to get used to it."
Trash is picked up every week, while recyclables are picked up every other week. Trash pickup fees are calculated on the cart sizes residents choose to use.
Betty Heer would like recycling picked up weekly.
"I have just a little bag of garbage," Heer said. "But I do have a lot of recycling."
People with large families expressed the same idea. Some commenters online said they may have to throw excess recycling in the garbage.
The solution to the problem is supposed to be: Get a bigger cart or a second cart.
Tom Boll, supervisor of the Street and Sanitation Department, said people can swap out their mid-sized carts for another size in the next 60 days for free.
"Some people didn't send their order cards back, and they got defaulted to a medium size," Boll said.
Until people get used to the pickup schedule, they can place extra recycling in bags beside the carts, he added.
People can get a free extra cart for recycling, but some balk at the idea of putting a third large cart in the garage to take up space.
Bob Beinema said he was opposed to the new system at first, because he didn't have a place to put the carts. He now stores his trash carts outside, in his back yard near the fence.
"I think it's working good," Beinema said. "I wish I had a place in the garage for them (the carts).
"I don't know how it's going to work this winter," he added.
Tammy Derrickson, director of the senior center, said some citizens are not aware yet that "they can call the city and ask for help getting their garbage picked up."
Another woman complained her large bag of trash got stuck in the cart, and it didn't get emptied.
"There seems to be some confusion about bagging," Boll noted. Bagged garbage goes into the dark trash carts, but bags have to be loose enough to slide out of the upside-down cart. Recycling should be clean and left loose, not bagged, in the yellow-lidded carts.
The number-one question coming into the sanitation department is about where to place the carts for pickups, Boll said.
Boll said "right at the edge of your driveway" is probably the best place for the carts to be for pick up. Cars are not allowed to park in front of driveways, and driveways are usually wide enough for the truck arm to maneuver.
Another woman noted that the employees emptying the carts missed the truck and left garbage bags on the street.
"I don't think they should have done that. They should have picked it up, don't you think?" she wondered.
But at the senior center, residents noted their irritation most often about other people leaving the trash carts out along the road, long after their trash has been collected. It looks "trashy," they said.
Trash carts should be taken off the streets and terraces as soon as possible after being emptied. The carts are city property, and residents are responsible for theft and damages to them.
"We're suggesting they take them back from the road, close to the house," Boll said.
That way, they also won't look like a line of gray visitors from outer space ready to cross the street.
City residents at the Behring Senior Center Thursday, July 1 were willing to interrupt their card games to comment on the system. They echoed many of the same comments found on The Monroe Times' Facebook page this past week, with remarks on the size of the carts, the infrequency of recycling pickups, unknown problems coming with the winter snow, and ... the neighbors.
"It looks like some kind of science fiction story as I drive down the street," one senior citizen said about the bulky, alien-looking trash carts lined up along the streets.
"Change is hard," she said. "It'll take time to get used to it."
Trash is picked up every week, while recyclables are picked up every other week. Trash pickup fees are calculated on the cart sizes residents choose to use.
Betty Heer would like recycling picked up weekly.
"I have just a little bag of garbage," Heer said. "But I do have a lot of recycling."
People with large families expressed the same idea. Some commenters online said they may have to throw excess recycling in the garbage.
The solution to the problem is supposed to be: Get a bigger cart or a second cart.
Tom Boll, supervisor of the Street and Sanitation Department, said people can swap out their mid-sized carts for another size in the next 60 days for free.
"Some people didn't send their order cards back, and they got defaulted to a medium size," Boll said.
Until people get used to the pickup schedule, they can place extra recycling in bags beside the carts, he added.
People can get a free extra cart for recycling, but some balk at the idea of putting a third large cart in the garage to take up space.
Bob Beinema said he was opposed to the new system at first, because he didn't have a place to put the carts. He now stores his trash carts outside, in his back yard near the fence.
"I think it's working good," Beinema said. "I wish I had a place in the garage for them (the carts).
"I don't know how it's going to work this winter," he added.
Tammy Derrickson, director of the senior center, said some citizens are not aware yet that "they can call the city and ask for help getting their garbage picked up."
Another woman complained her large bag of trash got stuck in the cart, and it didn't get emptied.
"There seems to be some confusion about bagging," Boll noted. Bagged garbage goes into the dark trash carts, but bags have to be loose enough to slide out of the upside-down cart. Recycling should be clean and left loose, not bagged, in the yellow-lidded carts.
The number-one question coming into the sanitation department is about where to place the carts for pickups, Boll said.
Boll said "right at the edge of your driveway" is probably the best place for the carts to be for pick up. Cars are not allowed to park in front of driveways, and driveways are usually wide enough for the truck arm to maneuver.
Another woman noted that the employees emptying the carts missed the truck and left garbage bags on the street.
"I don't think they should have done that. They should have picked it up, don't you think?" she wondered.
But at the senior center, residents noted their irritation most often about other people leaving the trash carts out along the road, long after their trash has been collected. It looks "trashy," they said.
Trash carts should be taken off the streets and terraces as soon as possible after being emptied. The carts are city property, and residents are responsible for theft and damages to them.
"We're suggesting they take them back from the road, close to the house," Boll said.
That way, they also won't look like a line of gray visitors from outer space ready to cross the street.