Trash and recycling haulers in Northeast Ohio are seeing an increase in residential garbage as a result of the stay-at-home order from the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the haulers are trying to keep employees safe, and that is leading to some cuts in service, depending on where you live.
Republic Services is one of several haulers serving Northeast Ohio. In a statement, the company said it is continuously evaluating ways to ensure employee safety during this pandemic, while still serving customers. Many of the company’s trucks haul recyclables to a facility in Akron. The city’s Service Director, Chris Ludle, is also concerned about his employees. And that’s why Republic is cutting pickups of large items to allow employees to social distance.
“Our workers that do this pick up — it’s manual labor – and some of these require that two of them, together, pick up an item, and they’re less than six feet apart. There’s no way to pick up a stove and be more than six feet apart. And, of course, as you’re picking up something heavy, you’re exhaling. We just thought the best practice would be to stop this temporarily while we get through the surge,” Ludle said.
Those bulk pickups are usually scheduled by residents calling 3-1-1. And this is the time of year when Ludle said the city sees lots of those old stoves and couches on the curb as people tackle spring cleaning. “If it doesn’t fit in your can, we’re asking you to — temporarily, if you don’t have another way to get rid of them – if you could stockpile them in your garage. Or the furniture, in your house,” he said.
And if a hauler pulls up and finds a china hutch sitting on the curb? “We will tag it, and we will go up and put a door hanger on and remind (the resident) that we’re not doing that service right now,” Ludle said.