Biweekly recycling collection, four-day trash pickup starts Monday -- don't fret if you don't have a rollout cart yet

Durham's revised solid waste program starts Monday, bringing with it several big changes:

• Household solid waste will now be collected Monday-Thursday, with former Friday pick-ups moving to Wednesday;
• Recycling moves to every-other-week using a larger (95-gallon) curbside roll cart;
• Yard waste and bulky items should be placed on the curb the same day as solid waste collection, and will be picked up the following day -- the presence of the items on your regular pick-up day triggers next-day collection.

We here at the blog got a bit worried on Friday, since Chez BCR hadn't yet received its new recycling roll-cart -- and we haven't seen many around Trinity Park and other in-town neighborhoods. What to do?

Donald Long, director of Durham's solid waste department, explained in a brief interview Friday that while crews have been working in recent weeks to deliver recycling carts throughout the city, their focus has been on those neighborhoods that are on the "blue week" for pick-up, starting the week of July 13.

"Red week" neighborhoods -- which includes much of central and eastern Durham -- get their first recycling collection the week of July 20, and roll-cart distribution is slated to continue through that week to reach all households. (Click the image at left for a larger version.)

But rest assured: your cart should arrive before your first recycling pick-up. Crews were spotted delivering carts to Gregson St. households this morning, for instance.

The new carts will provide an opportunity for broader collection of recycled goods, too:

By law, you are required to recycle at a minimum: aluminum cans; steel cans; glass bottles and jars; newspaper; plastic bottles; and corrugated cardboard. With the larger container, in addition to the items that must be recycled, you will have room to recycle many other items, including: magazines; cereal boxes; paper bags; cardboard egg containers; phone books; junk mail; plastic milk jugs; detergent containers; and office paper.

Oh, those roll-carts accept something else, too: your old recycling bin, which can be neatly disposed of in your new 95-gallon cart.

Why the change? Durham officials note that in the neighborhoods where the program was piloted, participation in curbside recycling increased from 40% to 70%, and the volume of material increased 35%.

Besides making communities greener, recycling programs exist because they save cities like Durham money. It costs money to dispose of solid waste; recycling pickup still costs money, but cities get some value back from the recycled items. Essentially, it diverts some of the waste stream to a less-costly path.

95 gallons of recycling too much for you? City Councilman Mike Woodard noted this in an email to the Old North Durham listserv:

Also, I learned from Solid Waste today that carts come in three sizes: 95 gallon, 65 gallon, and 35 gallon. The 95-er is the "gi-nourmous" version. If you won't have that much to recycle, or don't have room for such a large cart (this issue came up on a couple of other listservs), you can request one of the smaller carts by calling One Call: 560.1200. Solid Waste will come out and make the swap for you.

More questions? Contact Durham's One Call or visit the city's web site for more details.

Comments

[Todd P]

The carts were delivered in my neighborhhod 2 weeks ago. Mine came without directions of any kind, such as the blue/red schedule. The same thing apparently happened with many of my neighbors since a number of the carts have been put out the past 2 weeks on our designated trash day.

I expect the alternating recycling schedule to be a continuing source of confusion for a while unless the City steps up the information campaign.

My question is that if the "gi-normous" version cart is not big enough, can we get a second one?

[SteveG]

Solid Waste has done a poor job of communicating the changes that are coming with the recycling program.

This began when a city press release issued on Thursday stated "When the blue roll-out carts arrived last month, a recycling collection schedule and a list of “frequently asked questions” were attached to the carts in a plastic bag, explaining the new program in more detail." Nobody in my neighborhood of approximately 1000 households has received the carts as of today, July 11.

Then, looking on the Solid Waste web site at http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/solid/recycle_curb_collection.cfm , it states "Look for your NEW Recycling Roll-Out Cart to arrive in June!" Again, we looked, but the carts did not arrive.

As of Thursday morning, to the best of my knowledge nobody in several neighborhoods near downtown had received their recycling carts. This apparently caused a flood of calls into Durham One Call, so much so that hold times of 10 minutes were commonly reported.

The press release and web site also states that the new recycling program begins July 13th. But wait, reading further you find that you have to use the investigative skills of Sherlock Holmes to read a virtually unreadable map to determine which color zone that you are in, and then you need to look yet another file to determine what you collection days are.

Furthermore, I have not been able to find any information on these changes in Spanish, which will certainly cause confusion for Durham's Hispanic population.

I expect there to be mass confusion and frustration for a few months. Durham One Call is going to be very busy beginning next week. This will especially be true in the neighborhoods where the pickup date has been switched from Friday to Wednesday.

I won't even address the issues with the "we'll get to it later" plan to pick up Yard Waste and Bulky Items the day after the normal garbage pickup.

[Toby]

Ummmm... While not a perfect roll-out (get it? ;-), let's not worry needlessly! Some friendly common-sense suggestions:

If you don't have a new rolling bin, put the recyclables out in the old bin. If you don't know which week your stuff will be picked up, put the stuff out on your regular trash day. If they don't pick it up, bring it back up to the house and try again the following week. Breath deeply, relax, and know that all will be well in the fullness of time...

[TSQ75]

I'm concerned about the average citizen who is a renter, or is not online or on a listserve. It struck me this past 4th of july friday, that there were dozens upon dozens of trash and recycle bins set out in front of houses. They are not privileged enough to be able to check the city's website (and with work and children and trying to make the rent, who can expect people to think of it) they are not on list serves, and many probably dont even get a utility bill since it may be rolled into their rent.

as a human being, i'm tempted to just make a stack of flyers and post them all over, in english and spanish, saying "Trash day is changing from friday to wednesday! starting July 20th!"

many of us take for granted being "connected" and informed

[Bull City Rising]

Thanks, all, for the comments.

Between these comments and some of the question on the listserv -- such as the very good question from a friend about whether recycling pickup will still be on-street for folks who have alleyways, or whether it will revert to the alleys -- it's clear that there's some confusion among the public on this.

Usually Durham does a really good job with public communication; the award-winning financial reports are a good example. But this change doesn't appear to have been communicated as well.

Perhaps that can be chalked up to the late start, given that it wasn't until the last 6 weeks or so this was wrapped up. On the flip side, I winced at Friday's combination of the latest press release on recycling and a DATA route change release that talked about new service to Glenn View Station without mentioning what part of routes were being dropped.

FWIW, I'm personally a big supporter of this recycling change as I've hated keeping recycling in the house until taking it to the bin weekly; being able to take it to a cart daily, and to roll out a cart big enough for all our household recycling, will be really nice.

But the communication could have been better here, it seems.

Ditto the comments about non-connected citizens. When the listservs started lighting up the past 24-48 hours, among connected citizens, one has to worry about the broader residential base....

[keith]

I like the change but am confused on one point. The city release exclaims that we can "Recycle more at your curbside with a new 95-gallon blue roll-out cart." Are items eligible for recycling that formerly were excluded? If so, what are they? Or, is this just a confusing communication driven by an over-zealous effort to promote the new service?

[J.Loftis]

It seems that Durham is now providing for recycling of "rigid plastics" which, according to the city website, includes:

• Milk and soda crates
• Laundry baskets
• Lawn furniture
• Plastic toys
• Plastic totes
• Pet carriers and litter boxes
• Cleaned empty garbage cans (any size)
• Rinsed plastic drums (any size)
• Plastic pallets, nursery trays, and flower
pots
• Plastic five-gallon water bottles
• Plastic outdoor toys (sandboxes, slides,
play kitchens)

http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/solid/wr_five_steps.cfm

http://www.durhamnc.gov/departments/solid/recycle_curb_collection.cfm

[J. Loftis]

Am I the only Tuesday "blue week" person who didn't get their recycling picked up yesterday?!?!

[Laura]

We are a Tuesday "blue week" house, too, and didn't get picked up.

[keith]

Thanks J. Loftis for the helpful list of items. I appreciate the information.