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An e-mail message from Dallas Sanitation Services arrived yesterday containing information supposed to clear up any confusion about the OneDay trash and recycling collection schedule set to go into effect March 1.
Some areas of town already receive once-a-week service, but I live in a neighborhood in which trash still is collected twice a week and recycling every other week.
That will change. As of March 1, I go to once-a-week service for both types of discards — Mondays, which is cool by me.
The semi-confusing part pertains to the location of the pickups and whether or not I need a new bin for trash.
As it stands now, recycling in the blue bin is picked up at the front curb and trash is collected in the alley. But I don’t have a gray bin for trash. I place it out there in a Hefty, or a Glad, or whatever is on sale, which is picked up manually because the mechanized trucks are too big for the alley.
Come March 1, I stick with curb service for recycling and alley pickup for trash, but I need to put the Heftys in a gray bin, which I’m told will miraculously appear in the alley.
I still don’t understand this part: If my alley is too small now for the mechanized trucks how does it become large enough next month?
I called the number listed on a bin hanger placed on the recycling receptacle — on the back handle rather than the front, which doesn’t make sense because I use the back handle every other week while I use the front side three or four times a day — and spoke with a friendly enough chap who has a future in politics. He tap-danced around the question until I just wanted to get off the phone.
To seek clarification to OneDay questions, call (214) 671-8877, and good luck. Be prepared, though. The city is swamped with callers, and I was on hold for about 10 minutes before a human answered.
8 responses to this post
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c-maria said at 12:56 p.m. on February 3, 2010, 12:56 p.m.
I guess every street is different. Our trash is changing from ally pick-up to curb pick up on March 1. We're pretty happy considering our back fence is gateless and we currently have to hoist our trash bags over the fence into the ally.
But the Dallas sanitation services definitely has some communication issues. We got a color-coded schedule for bulk pick-up in the mail but it's so vague and confusing, I don't have the first clue how to interpret it. Forget the charts! Just say when and where to put my trash/bulk/recycling out for my street and I'll do it.
bryanr01 [Lakewood] said at 9:13 a.m. on February 4, 2010, 9:13 a.m.
I went to the OneDayDallas website and looked at the map for my address, which shows pick-up on Thursday. But, I received a letter from the City this week that says Friday.
bfelps [Lakewood] said at 9:53 a.m. on February 4, 2010, 9:53 a.m.
c-maria and bryanr01: i just spoke with the spokeswoman for the sanitation department and will have a follow-up post today, i hope, if not tomorrow. she acknowledged the difficulties of communicating such a sweeping change to such a large number of people. we'll get this completely sorted out before march 1 ... i hope.
JEL [Lakewood] said at 10:56 a.m. on February 4, 2010, 10:56 a.m.
For what it's worth, I just called and if you are a resident on Vanderbilt on the north side of the street, west side of Abrams to Skillman, it's still alley pickup. The spokesperson said people on Monticello weren't going to be happy tho....
imacatlover [Wilshire Heights] said at 5:58 p.m. on February 4, 2010, 5:58 p.m.
For Whilshire Heights (we have a newsletter article coming out soon), almost everyone will have front curbside pickup for both trash and recycles - two bins, Monday of each week. The one exception is the south side of Mercedes - trash will still be picked up in the alley - in the gray cart. Gray carts will arrive sometime in February - automatically. You will get a large cart; if you want the smaller version, you have to call 311 and request a swap.
Right now, bulk trash schedules and locations are not changing. Key words - right now. I'm sure something will happen there too.
FYI: Side streets are off limits for recycles. Many of us use the side streets - city says no more. We're contesting that ruling. After all, the trucks have to drive the side streets anyway.
kgille01 [Lakewood] said at 7:22 p.m. on February 4, 2010, 7:22 p.m.
Included in this change from back to front service is Gaston Ave. This is a unique situation and following up to know what additional study was done to ensure this does not result in a compromise of saftey (for residents going to the curb, drivers in the street, and city workers in the trucks) since already can be a difficult situation being a busy street (for example, just 2 hours ago see the 'gate crashing' post). If "being moved from the alley to curb as an operational efficiency to prevent property damage" then need verification to ensure a resonableness check was done taking into account of all potential 'risks' regarding prevention of property damage like due to traffic accidents and more important, potential of personal injury (and as a result having special procedures like no pickup during rush hour like happens now in current arrangement). Otherwise this needs to be reconsidered and kept 'as is' as efficiency gains are not justified if safety is compromised.
LakewoodTX [Lakewood] said at 1:06 p.m. on February 5, 2010, 1:06 p.m.
imacatlover - how do you go about protesting the side street ruling for pick-up? I would really like to put in my 2 cents about it. We're on a corner, with no alley, and I would LOVE to put my trash & recycling on the side of the house rather than the front! I put the bulk trash on the side and have never had a problem, but I haven't had the same luck with the trash.
Cricket [Lakewood] said at 8:18 a.m. on February 8, 2010, 8:18 a.m.
WHY CAN'T WE GET ALLEY PICK UP? The trucks go down there anyway so saying they are too big is not an excuse. My recycle bin is regularly emptied when it is out back.
This week, someone put their regular trash out on SATURDAY afternoon! THREE DAYS of looking at the street trash!!! People regularly trash the street with bulky trash right after the pick up has happened. What is wrong with people?