Talkin’ Trash

photo by María Helena Carey

Walking home from work tonight I was reminded how much more clean up the city is really facing in the aftermath of Snowmageddon.   Not only do they still have massive amounts of snow to remove from parking lanes, crosswalks, and other public spaces, they now have mounds of trash that sit almost as high as those snow piles.

While trash pick up did still occur last week, many blocks were skipped due to the weather and conditions of the roads, and people who put trash out on their sidewalk — instead of taking it all the way to the street — were missed by the trash collectors.  And thanks to the Federal holiday on Monday, the trash schedule has been shifted this week as well, contributing confusion over when to put out your trash and where.  To top it all off the Department of Public Works also suspended recycling pick up last week and this week in an effort to redirect resources to snow removal and trash pick up.  Needless to say, there is a lot of trash piling up.  Unsure about when your trash and recycling will be picked up, and where you need to put it? And what to do if you think your block was skipped?  Keep reading after the jump:

So when is the city supposed to pick up your trash?

• Collections in once-a-week collection neighborhoods will “slide” to the next day. For example, Monday trash collections will be made Tuesday, Tuesday collections will be made Wednesday, and so on.
• In neighborhoods with twice-weekly trash collections, Monday and Thursday collections will be made Tuesday and Friday, and Tuesday and Friday collections will be made Wednesday and Saturday.
• Alley pick up is still suspended so DPW is asking residents to put their trash in dark plastic bags and place them at the curb no earlier than 6:30 pm the night before collection and removed from public space by 8 pm on the day(s) of collection. Bleach may be added to the bags to repel rodents.
• Put your trash as close to the street as possible, and in dark-colored bags so it is easily seen among the large snow drifts.

And how about recycling?

• There is no recycling pick up this week but the Ft. Totten Transfer Station will resume accepting recyclables from District residents starting Wednesday, February 17. Ft. Totten is located at 4900 John F. McCormack Road, NE and is open to District residents weekdays from 1 pm to 5 pm and Saturdays from 8 am to 3 pm.
• The transfer station resumed accepting residents’ trash and bulk items last Friday. It had been closed to everyone except DPW and commercial trash haulers for several days due to the historic snow accumulated on the grounds.

Trash collection for the public trashcans has also been suspended while the city redirects those resources to snow removal, so please refrain from putting your trash in public cans.

If the city skipped your block on its scheduled pick up day, call 311.