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Garbage Strike


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Our local garbage strike has finally hit our neighborhood. No garbage trucks have rumbled down our street today. So. . . depending on how long this goes, what do I do about our garbage? I put a bag of garbage in our garage the other day when our bin was too full and something gnawed a hole in the garbage sack. I don't want to encourage vermin. Or odor.

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Can you take it to the dump yourself? I know sometimes you have to pay to drop off, but it would be worth it to not have little creatures invading your garage!

 

We have taken trash to our business dumpster, but if it is a strike, that may not help at all.

 

Or....who is refusing to negotiate with the union??? Take it to their house? ;) Kind of like the toilets in The Help :lol:

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Oh yeah well it was lovely for me when they missed our can on Monday (picked up everyone else, not sure how they missed it) and then we were gone all day/night. By the time I called and they put out a pick up, they went on strike....like an hour after I called. :glare:

 

They have yet to pick it up today and I'm getting peeved. It's not like we can just have trash sitting around.

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Can you have a campfire? Wash all recyclable items, compost anything you can, if composting is not available then use up glass jars with lids and pack em tight.

 

If you can burn it, then burn it - safely of course.

 

There are very strict laws against burning anything around here. We can't even burn our leaves, let alone garbage.

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Can you take it to the dump yourself? I know sometimes you have to pay to drop off, but it would be worth it to not have little creatures invading your garage!

 

We have taken trash to our business dumpster, but if it is a strike, that may not help at all.

 

Or....who is refusing to negotiate with the union??? Take it to their house? ;) Kind of like the toilets in The Help :lol:

 

Good idea on taking it to the dump. I checked the website for our local transfer station. They are open but warn that you will have to drive through lines of picketers.

 

A business dumpster wouldn't help. They aren't being picked up either.

 

Looking at the comments on the local news stories on the strike, the striking workers are getting very little sympathy because of the economy. I don't know enough about it to have a strong opinion of my own. Except that I don't want garbage piling up!

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Start your own private garbage collection service and just go around the strike.

 

Seriously. I am thinking of taking my dad's truck, and collecting everyone's garbage and just going to the dump. Just for principal. This is stupid. I don't even want money, just a clean street. If you dump it in the truck, I'll take it kind of thing. You can dump an entire truck load for under $20.

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Seriously. I am thinking of taking my dad's truck, and collecting everyone's garbage and just going to the dump. Just for principal. This is stupid. I don't even want money, just a clean street. If you dump it in the truck, I'll take it kind of thing. You can dump an entire truck load for under $20.

 

What ticks me off though is that I am fairly sure that our monthly bill will be exactly the same despite less service.

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What ticks me off though is that I am fairly sure that our monthly bill will be exactly the same despite less service.

 

The company rep was interviewed on the radio and said that if service were interrupted, the drivers would pick up twice the amount the following week "at no extra charge." The radio host went nuts, pointing out that she was bragging about not charging him for something he paid for and didn't get.* She just didn't seem to understand why her offer wasn't received with joy.

 

*Of course, this same radio host, who went on and on and on about how his garbage was going to pile up and stink, later had to admit sheepishly that he hadn't realized that his family actually used a different garbage service and he wasn't personally affected at all. He was genuinely mistaken, I think, and his points were still valid for real customers, but it was pretty amusing.

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I would get together w/ neighbors and put it in someones truck, and split the dump cost. And if this is a private company, and not part of local municipality, then I would cancel and hire another company. I do have sympathy for the garbage workers, but I can't handle garbage piling up!

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What ticks me off though is that I am fairly sure that our monthly bill will be exactly the same despite less service.

 

I know :glare:

 

Seriously, garbage in bags gets picked at by birds, stinks, leaks etc. I'm supposed to buy something to hold this trash? And last week I *perfectly* broke down all my cardboard and made it look like a nice fancy pile. Trying to make life easy for the trash guy. I am bitter. Picking up double doesn't really help when you still have to manage the heap.

 

I do have this small garbage can with a lid but the thing is I use it for something else, and then I'm not going to want to use it for that again once it stinks.

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We have two garbage cans, a compost bin (personal bin) and a recycle bin.

 

We compost wet veg debris

We recycle what we can

 

For the two garbage cans, I have one for general household waste and a second for DRY waste only.

 

The first can gets emptied weekly and in a strike, I would take it to the dump every other week if I can wait that long. The second can is dry garbage. Bits of plastic, broken toys/glass, just general debris that is not recyclable. I don't line the dry can and only put it out about once ever month or two (it is 3.50 to put out the extra can) when it is full. The debris in the dry can could pile up in the garage for quite a while and be fine.

 

 

Since you don't know how long the strike will last, you may consider a similar system, using a black garbage bag if you don't have an extra can. At least it will reduce the amount you have to deal with each week and since it is dry waste it shouldn't attract vermin.

 

 

I would really think through what garbage you avoid bringing home for the next while. Using the garbage disposal (or blender and toilet) for as much wet garbage as you can. Make sure to wash out cans and other debris that goes into recycling and overall just make sure your garbage is as dry as possible.

 

 

Sorry, this is happening ....garbage strikes stink :glare:

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Can you cancel service until the strike is resolved?

 

Hmmm. I have absolutely no idea. If I could do that I would have to find out how long it takes to reinstate service. I'm hoping that things will be resolved soon. The news says that the company will be fined for not picking up garbage so I don't know if that will be an incentive to hire replacement workers or for resolving the strike. Or if they will just pass the fines on to us in a price increase down the road. . .

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I have no answers for you, but this reminds me of when I was in high school and the United Public Workers went on strike. That included all the garbage collectors and the custodial staff at major public areas--beach, airport, mall. There was no other source to contract for cleaning; everything was contracted by the UPW. I can't even remember what we did during that time for household trash. But I remember going to the mall and seeing trash overflowing the bins.

 

In our town each family contracts with a chosen trash service. I have counted at least 7 different companies' trash bins in our subdivision. I have never lived in a place that had more than 2 options. Now we have at least 7!

 

Overflowing trash is awful. A couple weeks ago our neighbor let their bin overflow. The ravens got to it and they had trash strewn all over their driveway. :glare: I hope you get something worked out soon.

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My mother used to put food scraps that were icky in a bag in the freezer until collection day. Everything else can obviously sit there for awhile.

 

That's a good idea. Thank you.

 

I remembered that I have an extra bin that I normally use for yardwaste that I could probably use for garbage for now.

 

The crows around here are merciless at getting at garbage that is even a little bit exposed.

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Ugh. :grouphug:

 

I feel for you! This thread makes me think about the stories our relatives in France have told about garbage strikes that go on and on and on and the trash just piles up on the city streets and overflows into the roads and walkways and rats are a HUGE problem! It seems to be a regular occurrence there. Hopefully this is VERY short lived!

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There aren't any private services where you are? I am in a city with a public service but there are tons of private services for folks outside the city and I think most businesses have to pay a private service.

 

Not that I know of. Each city contracts with a service. Our city (and many others in this area) contract with the garbage company that is now on strike.

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