Residents confused about Charlotte's new trash collection schedule
MECKLENBURG COUNTY, NC (WBTV) – Charlotte city officials say lots of residents are still confused over new trash and recycling collection rules that were implemented following the Independence holiday weekend.
The city made the transition to a new Solid Waste Services (SWS) business model for the collection of yard waste and bulky items earlier this week.
City staffers say, operationally, the transition went pretty smooth.
However, it appears some residents are just completely baffled over the collection day changes and recyclable collection switching from weekly service to an alternating week collection schedule.
During the first few days the changes were implemented, the city's 311 call center was increasingly flooded with calls from confused residents.
On Sunday, July 44th, the call center had 345 calls relating to SWS, but on Monday, the number jumped to 2,557 SWS-related calls.
On Tuesday, there were 2,651 SWS calls. Officials say people who couldn't get an answer right away called back which may have resulted in the high number.
Most of the questions citizens asked 311 operators included:
- When is my new collection day for garbage or recyclable collection?
- Why was the recyclable collection frequency changed to every other week?
- Why didn't I receive information?
- How does the recycling program work i.e. (Do I have to separate items? I did not receive a recycling bin.)
- Can I get a recycling container after choosing not to have one delivered to me?
The city says in an effort to answer these questions, they will use a variety of tools including Web/Social Media, CMAIL, Twitter and Facebook.
In addition, you can also get answers to many if not all of your questions by clicking here.
The city says SWS will collect all excess bagged garbage outside of the rollout container for the remainder of this week to give residents a longer period to have their extra debris collected.
Citizens must bag all debris and place it next to their rollout container for collection.