PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Julie Fewel saw a welcome sight in her Southwest Portland neighborhood on Wednesday — a garbage truck.
The icy roads in the metro area this week delayed garbage pick up. But the haulers are making progress.
The roads were too dangerous for Waste Management trucks on Monday. They’re the largest of the 15 haulers in the city of Portland. The company’s Jackie Lang told KOIN 6 News those customers who missed their collection days earlier in the week because of the weather shouldn’t worry. They expect to be caught up by Thursday.
That’s good news for Fewel and all the Portland residents whose garbage is picked up every other week.
“I was a little worried,” she said, “but thank goodness they came today.”
Lang said their concern earlier in the week was for both their drivers and their customers. They did not run any routes on Portland’s east or west sides Monday, and conditions were still bad on Tuesday on the west side.
“Monday was a bit of a roller coaster,” Lang told KOIN 6 News. “When the weather throws us a curve ball we have two important priorities: safety and customer communications.”
Waste Management does 2 things right away, Lang said: call their customers, then post the info online.
Drivers are putting in extra hours to make up for the delayed pickups on garbage.
“The city of Portland is unique because of the garbage collection every other week. We handle that by focusing on garbage,” Lang said. “It’s most important usually for people to have their garbage collected, so we get that first and then next week we’ll make sure we get the recyling and the food waste (and yard debris) collection.”
Recovery plans vary by community.
Waste Management customers in Washington County will have to wait for garbage pickup until next Monday, Jan. 11. Other areas are delayed by a day.
Julie Fewell was just happy to see them come by.
“Over the holidays we had a lot of garbage and I didn’t want it to sit for another two weeks,” she said. “That would have been a month of our garbage sitting.”
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On their website, Waste Management urged customers to leave their containers out until 5 p.m. on their day.
They also provide tips to customers to help when weather is an issue: remove the snow from the on and around the containers, and move the containers to a more accessible spot if the street is snowy or icy.
And customers are also urged to clear storm drains of snow and debris to prevent flooding.
The City of Portland’s website states that if weather is an issue, “a reasonable effort will be made to pick up before the customer’s next scheduled collection day. Evening and Saturday collections may be necessary.”
Anyone with questions can call the Curbside Hotline at 503.823.7202.
People can also check when their garbage will be collected on their Collection Schedule page.
Filed under: Clackamas County, Environment, Multnomah County, Portland, Top Video, Washington County
