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Curbside recycling delays irk Mahoning County residents
YOUNGSTOWN
Allied Waste Services is having “a systemic problem” with delayed collection of recyclables from curbside bins countywide, according to Jennifer Jones, city litter control and recycling coordinator.
Jones said she has received an average of 15 to 20 complaint calls a day about this issue.
Allied officials told her the problem stems in part from staffing shortages and substitute drivers who aren’t familiar with the collection routes, and they told her they’ll remedy the problem next month after newly hired drivers are trained, Jones said.
Another problem, Jones said, is that the Greenstar materials recovery facility in Poland that sorts and bundles the recyclable materials has reduced its hours, opening now at 7 a.m., instead of 3 a.m., thereby reducing the number of trips Allied’s trucks can make in a day.
Allied officials are trying to get Greenstar to restore hours, Jones said.
Recent complaints pertain to filled recycling bins sitting three weeks at curbside along Price Road and Wilkinson Avenue on the city’s West Side, Douglas Dunn, Allied Waste general manager, acknowledged Wednesday.
Dunn said he’ll be in that residential neighborhood today to ensure that recyclables from those bins are collected. Contents of those bins are supposed to be collected on alternate Thursdays.
“We have operating challenges like many trucking companies, and we’re identifying them and working through them,” Dunn said.
Allied provides free curbside recycling in the heavily populated areas of Mahoning County, collecting paper, metal food and beverage cans, glass bottles and jars and plastic containers.
“The public does value [the curbside recycling service], but we need to communicate when there are delays,” said City Councilman Mike Ray.
, D-4th.
Ray said Allied should issue a news release acknowledging and explaining such delays when they occur and asking for the public’s patience.
Jones said the heavy call volume to her office on this matter forced her to record a greeting on her answering machine asking callers complaining about delayed curbside recycling collections to leave their names and addresses on her answering machine to enable her to forward the information to Allied.
Jones said city residents typically call her on the day after Allied misses a regularly scheduled collection.