Toledo's Automated Pickup is TRASH!!!

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About 2 weeks ago, our neighborhood got the dreaded new automated trash cans. That’s right; Toledo has now gone to an automated trash system. We now have 1 can for garbage, 1 can for recycling. At first the thought doesn’t sound that bad, until you hear about all the ‘rules’ that goes along with this new system.

First off, we get 1 can for each garbage and recycling from the city. Now this bins are the ONLY thing your trash or recycling can be in. Have your own trash can? Doesn’t matter, they won’t pick up that trash; have extra garbage from the holidays or just a lot of garbage that week? You better hope that it all fits in the can, and the lit is DOWN because if not, they won’t pick that up either.

Well, wait, that’s a little wrong. If you have an ‘overflow’ of garbage, they will pick it up, if you call them 48hrs in advance of your trash pickup day, and schedule a ‘special pick up’! You can get around this, if you wish to PURCHASE more can’s for your home.

The bins are large! I’m short seriously it’s a struggle for me to actually get garbage into these bins, never mind rolling them to the street, oh yea, that’s another thing, normally our garbage would sit on the grass by the curb for pickup. Not anymore!!! The bins must be off the curb on the road at least 3 feet apart from each other, not near any cars or trees or poles. If you don’t follow these rules, no garbage pickup for you!

So last week was a holiday, and because of the other screwy system Toledo has that meant our regular Friday pickup was pushed up to Monday, which meant, no garbage pickup for us last week. So of course that means we have extra garbage, garbage that won’t fit in the trash bins they gave us. We also did some early ‘spring cleaning’ and got rid of some old furniture, broken furniture and our mattresses as we all got new ones. This means we had to call for a ‘special pick up’! All of this stuff would have been taken before with the regular garbage, but because of the new ‘automated’ system, nope, no more.

We called for the ‘special pick up’ last week since we knew our new day was going to be Monday. My hubby spoke with the woman and also let her know of our displeasure with the new system. She apologized and told us we’re not the only ones calling in complaining, but as far as the ‘special pick up ‘ went, it would be scheduled for Monday February 22 and they would take everything we had…

So, that’s today. Last night we cleared out the garage and have a MOUND of things on our lawn by the curb ready to pick up. The regular garbage truck came by early this morning, picked up the bin and away it went. Our other garbage still sat there waiting along with our recycling bin. They day has gone by, no trucks no nothing on our street.

6 o’clock p.m. Garbage is STILL THERE along with our recycling bin! Now, our recycling only gets picked up every other week, but one would think, since we had no garbage pickup last week, this week would be the week for recycling. Apparently not! I and all my neighbors were apparently WRONG!

Hubby called again, asking about our pickup. They say “Oh sorry, we must have missed you” even though we followed their rules, scheduled 48hrs AHEAD of our regular pick up day… They still happened to ‘miss us’!!!!! Now they tell us, the turnaround will be another 48hrs and they’ll come pick it up…

So now, the trash will sit in front of our home, looking like a dump, until they decide they’d like to pick it up… Oh yea, and that picture over there, yeah, that’s the pile sitting in front of our house for the next 48hrs, beautiful sight isn’t it?!

Gotta love the city of Toledo, no wonder we were voted in the top 20 more miserable cities, cause I sure am miserable living here!