As more people stayed home in the pandemic and produced more trash, Long Beach last year saw a roughly 13% increase in refuse collection, amounting to about 25,000 tons of extra garbage, said Diko Melkonian, who heads the Environmental Services Bureau in Public Works.
The city also saw a 38% increase in requests to pick up bulky items and a 34% increase in illegal dumping in alleys (about 700 additional requests per month), as residents with more time on their hands cleaned out their garages and yards. The department saw about 140,000 complaints and calls for trash service last year, up 30% from the previous year. In all, the surge amounted to an additional $1.5 million cost for the city last year, Melkonian said.
Last summer was especially bad as employees worked overtime and struggled to keep up their routes as many staffers called in sick due to the pandemic, he said. Trash and old furniture piled up, especially in densely populated neighborhoods in central and west Long Beach. “It wasn’t easy and it was a lot of work for the team,” he said. “Our refuse operators really worked hard to ensure we could provide the best service.”
At one point, refuse workers said they felt like they were literally buried in trash, but the problem has eased in recent months, Melkonian said. “We’re now in a place where it’s manageable,” he said. Refuse workers will soon have extra funding to target hard-hit areas thanks in part to a $153 million boost in funding for Long Beach from the federal American Rescue Plan, which was signed into law last week.