Solid Waste FAQ’s

No. These trucks work extremely well as they are intended but they do have their limitations. There are some areas where these trucks simply are not practical to use. The biggest constraint is due to bin placement. For example, some areas of the City are designed for “On-street” parking which means that there is not a clear path for the automated arm to pick up the bins. In these instances, the traditional semi-automated trucks will still be used.

No. The city has decided that the rules for overflow (additional trash outside of the bins) will be the same no matter what type of pickup is occurring. This is to ensure every resident is treated fairly and with the same rules.

Overflow is the term that’s used when there is too much trash to fit in the provided bin. Citizens in the past have put overflow on top of the bin or to the side. Beginning June 1st, 2015, if overflow is on the top of a bin, the bin will not be serviced. If overflow is on the side of the bin, the bin will be picked up but the side trash will be left.

In our experience, a family of 6 should be able to use the current trash bin sizes and not exceed capacity except during special circumstances as long as they recycle as they should. Recycling has numerous benefits including, but not limited to, 1) Decreasing the fees the city has to pay to the landfill, 2) Reduce the amount of trash you have in your bin which helps eliminate overflow, and 3) Helps the environment.

These yellow “violation” stickers are most commonly given because the bin was not placed according to City Ordinance. City Ordinance tells how the bins need to be placed so that the Fully-Automated trucks can service them. If this is the case, you have two options. The first is that you can pull your bin back to your house and wait until your next pickup the following week. The second option is that you can take your refuse and recycling, free-of-charge, to any of the 13 Wayne County Convenience Centers or the Landfill. Contact information for these 14 locations are on their web page.

If you do recycle as required, please give the Public Works Department a call. We will investigate to make sure you are recycling as stated. If this is the case, we can upsize your trash can.

  1. Plastic – The only acceptable plastics are: PET #1 (plastic drink bottles) and HDPE #2 (milk jugs, juice bottles, detergent bottles). Look for a triangular recycle symbol with a number 1 or 2 in it to be sure.
  2. Paper – newspaper, junk mailers, phone books, magazines, catalogs
  3. Aluminum beverage cans – soda cans, beer cans (quick rinse)
  4. Steel cans – soup, vegetable, pet food cans (quick rinse)
  5. Cardboard – corrugated boxes, cereal boxes (flattened)
  6. Glass – bottles and jars (quick rinse)

Remember:

Please do not bag your recyclables and empty out food and liquids.

We have sent out a brochure going over the basic rules and it can be downloaded here. But basically, the new rules are intended to make sure the Fully-Automated Trucks can service each container. So the rules dictate the location of the bins and overflow. Please give our drivers at least 3’ of space around each bin (including between each other) so we can service you.

The new program uses more efficient vehicles but also optimizes the routes within the City. The City hired a consultant to look at all the routes and balance them so each crew would spend a similar amount of time in the field. Don’t PANIC though! We instructed the consultant to make an effort to keep the pickup days the same and due to that only about 5% of the pickup days have changed. We have also created an address lookup form where you can type in your address and it will tell you what day your pickup will be.

Sanitation Route Lookup Form

The commercial 4, 6, and 8 cubic yard dumpster service is not affected by this new program. The commercial rollout containers (same bins as residential customers) will be required to follow the new rules beginning June 1st.

The Solid Waste division prides itself on customer service. For these one-time type events, please just give us a call and we’ll make special arrangements.

Yes, Bulk item pickup is now free-of-charge and operates year around. Please give the sanitation department a call at 919-734-8674 (option 1) BEFORE you put your bulk items out at the street. The City will pick up a maximum of 6 items from residences per week. Does not pertain to commercial sites.