Waste Management NOT picking up yard waste

[sail33or]

Today I had my biodegradable paper bag 1/3 full of the cuttings around those sprinkler donuts. The Waste Management employees opened the bag, dug around in it, spilling grass and dirt all over the driveway. He screamed that we are not supposed to have any sod/dirt in the bag. There is no way not to have a small amount of dirt attached to grass cuttings. The bag weighed 15 pounds. 10% dirt and 90% grass. Should be good for a natural LANDFILL. Now I have to sweep it back up. So we pay for this...…….

[pauld315]

Today I had my biodegradable paper bag 1/3 full of the cuttings around those sprinkler donuts. The Waste Management employees opened the bag, dug around in it, spilling grass and dirt all over the driveway. He screamed that we are not supposed to have any sod/dirt in the bag. There is no way not to have a small amount of dirt attached to grass cuttings. The bag weighed 15 pounds. 10% dirt and 90% grass. Should be good for a natural LANDFILL. Now I have to sweep it back up. So we pay for this...…….

Unusual, have their been other issues in the past ?

[graciegirl]

Today I had my biodegradable paper bag 1/3 full of the cuttings around those sprinkler donuts. The Waste Management employees opened the bag, dug around in it, spilling grass and dirt all over the driveway. He screamed that we are not supposed to have any sod/dirt in the bag. There is no way not to have a small amount of dirt attached to grass cuttings. The bag weighed 15 pounds. 10% dirt and 90% grass. Should be good for a natural LANDFILL. Now I have to sweep it back up. So we pay for this...…….

He SCREAMED? ARE YOU SURE???? The folks who do that job always are very nice to us, and we appreciate them very much.

My husband puts out yard waste frequently. He trims the bushes all around our home as they grow practically in front of our eyes in this season. No problem, the big tall brown paper waste bags is what he uses...and a lot of them too. The folks who pick them up do not fuss at all.

[photo1902]

Today I had my biodegradable paper bag 1/3 full of the cuttings around those sprinkler donuts. The Waste Management employees opened the bag, dug around in it, spilling grass and dirt all over the driveway. He screamed that we are not supposed to have any sod/dirt in the bag. There is no way not to have a small amount of dirt attached to grass cuttings. The bag weighed 15 pounds. 10% dirt and 90% grass. Should be good for a natural LANDFILL. Now I have to sweep it back up. So we pay for this...…….

I took have experienced this with CH2MHill, who recently became "Jacobs". I've experienced incidents in which they've opened my lawn waste and regular trash bags to see the contents. I agree that it can be difficult to remove all of the soil from plants when disposing of them. It always amazes me how they have the time to do this while collecting hundreds of bags.

[Bogie Shooter]

Today I had my biodegradable paper bag 1/3 full of the cuttings around those sprinkler donuts. The Waste Management employees opened the bag, dug around in it, spilling grass and dirt all over the driveway. He screamed that we are not supposed to have any sod/dirt in the bag. There is no way not to have a small amount of dirt attached to grass cuttings. The bag weighed 15 pounds. 10% dirt and 90% grass. Should be good for a natural LANDFILL. Now I have to sweep it back up. So we pay for this...…….

There is a number to call here, probably get a better answer than posting on social media...……..
Sanitation Information (http://districtgov.org/community/sanitation.aspx)

[photo1902]

There is a number to call here, probably get a better answer than posting on social media...……..
Sanitation Information (http://districtgov.org/community/sanitation.aspx)

Not neccesarily. I can’t speak to WM, only CH2MHill. Their person is less than responsive. In fact, The Villages recommend calling them to voice complaints about trash pick up issues.

And I’ll give you one better example. Last Fall I was helping an elderly neighbor whose husband was in hospice. I was in the process of trimming the extensive amount of bushes and hedges at her house. The lawn waste truck stopped to collect the lawn bags I had placed by the curb. The driver asked if I was the homeowner. When I replied no, he had the person at the back of the truck, who had already placed one of the paper bags in the truck, take the bag out. The driver proceeded to tell me “I” was responsible to removing the lawn waste. Despite my trying to explain the situation, the truck drove away. No good deed goes unpunished.

[villagetinker]

Not neccesarily. I can’t speak to WM, only CH2MHill. Their person is less than responsive. In fact, The Villages recommend calling them to voice complaints about trash pick up issues.

And I’ll give you one better example. Last Fall I was helping an elderly neighbor whose husband was in hospice. I was in the process of trimming the extensive amount of bushes and hedges at her house. The lawn waste truck stopped to collect the lawn bags I had placed by the curb. The driver asked if I was the homeowner. When I replied no, he had the person at the back of the truck, who had already placed one of the paper bags in the truck, take the bag out. The driver proceeded to tell me “I” was responsible to removing the lawn waste. Despite my trying to explain the situation, the truck drove away. No good deed goes unpunished.

I am guessing this was a misunderstanding, perhaps if you had said "I am a neighbor", they would have taken the waste. There have been problems in the past where commercial landscapers were leaving the waste instead of disposing it themselves.

[photo1902]

I am guessing this was a misunderstanding, perhaps if you had said "I am a neighbor", they would have taken the waste. There have been problems in the past where commercial landscapers were leaving the waste instead of disposing it themselves.

Maybe you missed the part of my post where I said that I tried to explain the situation to the driver. It didn’t work. Even the loader on the back of truck looked at the driver like he was from Mars when he was told to remove the bag from the back of the truck.

[Marathon Man]

Based on some of the stories here, it's a pretty good guess that the drivers are being sat on for A) Picking up bags that have contents that are not accepted by the disposal facility, and B) Picking up bags that are left by contractors. If your job was on the line, what would you do?

BTW - I'm pretty sure that lawn waste is burned rather than placed in land fill. Too much dirt would mess with the incinerators.

[photo1902]

Based on some of the stories here, it's a pretty good guess that the drivers are being sat on for A) Picking up bags that have contents that are not accepted by the disposal facility, and B) Picking up bags that are left by contractors. If your job was on the line, what would you do?

BTW - I'm pretty sure that lawn waste is burned rather than placed in land fill. Too much dirt would mess with the incinerators.

WM burns. CH2MHill/Jacobs does not.

[sail33or]

The Waste Management employee was very agitated as he dug through every bag on my street. He only picked up about 2-3 bags out of the 20 or so on the street. A neighbor got his truck and picked up all the bags and brought them to the Wildwood (Villages) dump. No problem. They do not mind ounces of dirt on grass roots. Just wish I could cancel this service.

[thetruth]

The service has been great.

As to the original post. Why don't you call the company.
We did twice. Once right after we moved in after a brief try to give them away we had like 200 moving boxes and NEWSPAPER packing material. The instruction was we could throw out as much as we wanted. I to keep it from blowing away cut up the boxes tied several together. Other boxes we filled with newspaper and taped them closed. As the office said they took whatever we put out-if I recall there was like garden wast a special day once a week. I would expect if you chose to use bubble wrap, or Styrofoam-none recycleable-you may have other problems.

As to garden waste, again, we've never had any problems.
Truth, when I put out a bag it is really full-heavy. Obviously the past few weeks-rainy season-we do our best not to put it out the night before when it is going to rain.
As I ride my bike, I wonder what some people put out and if the trash guys will pick it up. I recall seeing then leave one of the official paper garden bags because someone put good sized rocks in it covering that with plant material.
It rained that night. Obviously when the guys went to pick it up the bottom of the bag fell out.

SOLUTION-BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE CALL WM OFFICE AND THEY WILL POLITLY TELL YOU HOW TO GET RID OF ANY TRASH THAT YOU SUSPECT WILL BE A PROBLEM.

[champion6]

The Waste Management employee was very agitated as he dug through every bag on my street. He only picked up about 2-3 bags out of the 20 or so on the street. A neighbor got his truck and picked up all the bags and brought them to the Wildwood (Villages) dump. No problem. They do not mind ounces of dirt on grass roots. Just wish I could cancel this service.The service has been great.

As to the original post. Why don't you call the company.
We did twice. Once right after we moved in after a brief try to give them away we had like 200 moving boxes and NEWSPAPER packing material. The instruction was we could throw out as much as we wanted. I to keep it from blowing away cut up the boxes tied several together. Other boxes we filled with newspaper and taped them closed. As the office said they took whatever we put out-if I recall there was like garden wast a special day once a week. I would expect if you chose to use bubble wrap, or Styrofoam-none recycleable-you may have other problems.

As to garden waste, again, we've never had any problems.
Truth, when I put out a bag it is really full-heavy. Obviously the past few weeks-rainy season-we do our best not to put it out the night before when it is going to rain.
As I ride my bike, I wonder what some people put out and if the trash guys will pick it up. I recall seeing then leave one of the official paper garden bags because someone put good sized rocks in it covering that with plant material.
It rained that night. Obviously when the guys went to pick it up the bottom of the bag fell out.

SOLUTION-BASED ON MY EXPERIENCE CALL WM OFFICE AND THEY WILL POLITLY TELL YOU HOW TO GET RID OF ANY TRASH THAT YOU SUSPECT WILL BE A PROBLEM.sail33or and thetruth: What village does of each of you live in? Each of you might be dealing with different WM offices.

[thomp679]

The Waste Management employee was very agitated as he dug through every bag on my street. He only picked up about 2-3 bags out of the 20 or so on the street. A neighbor got his truck and picked up all the bags and brought them to the Wildwood (Villages) dump. No problem. They do not mind ounces of dirt on grass roots. Just wish I could cancel this service.
What is the Wildwood (Villages) dump? Is it open for Villagers to bring landscaping waste to??

[queasy27]

Don't tick off the garbage pickup folks:

Angry Garbage Man Prank - Bin Man Destroys Mailbox! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq9jSEq0enw)

[Nucky]

I’m not saying that we have to but this is one case where it is better to tip before the meal. Throw the driver or picker a couple of bucks and your problem will not exist! I was told “Sir you could put the contents of your house at the curb, we got it”.

What a rough job in the heat, maybe a couple bottles of water, some act of kindness even though you shouldn’t have to will go a long way.

[sail33or]

I live in Fernandina and like I said, this particular employee dug through every bag on my street, picking up very few. My real point is that I see folks putting everything imaginable in these bags and they are picked up. So I am just venting a little. I am lucky enough to have the one guy that inspects every bag for dirt particles. My neighbor brought everything to the dump at Wildwood (there are private and County dumps and he said they charged a small fee.) My guess is all the inspecting is going to cause overtime for this particular truck. One time, In another neighborhood I saw the Waste Management people picking up over 40 bags and hundreds of long limbs and palm branches and I get a guy that won't pick up 1lb of dirt. Ironic, that's all.

[GoPacers]

Today I had my biodegradable paper bag 1/3 full of the cuttings around those sprinkler donuts. The Waste Management employees opened the bag, dug around in it, spilling grass and dirt all over the driveway. He screamed that we are not supposed to have any sod/dirt in the bag. There is no way not to have a small amount of dirt attached to grass cuttings. The bag weighed 15 pounds. 10% dirt and 90% grass. Should be good for a natural LANDFILL. Now I have to sweep it back up. So we pay for this...…….

Ah, 1st world problems can be so problematic...

Sticking with your math and assuming it's not fake news, 10% of 15lbs is 1.5lbs of dirt. If everyone had 1.5lbs of dirt in their waste bag that would equate to thousands of pounds of dirt every day in the Villages. In addition, let's be clear - grass cuttings should have no dirt. Removing sod or digging sections of grass out will result in dirt being attached but it is possible and easy to wash away 1.5lbs of dirt from sod. Use a hose or let the rain naturally wash the dirt away if the cost of the water bugs you. Either way, as another post indicated, we surely don't want to inconvenience you to allow other people to do their jobs.

[DonH57]

We've been here 5 years and never had an issue with them digging thru the bags and have always picked up our yard waste.

[graciegirl]

We've been here 5 years and never had an issue with them digging thru the bags and have always picked up our yard waste.

Ten years for us. And I do bring cold water when I remember. Thanks Nucky.

[photo1902]

We've been here 5 years and never had an issue with them digging thru the bags and have always picked up our yard waste.

Like anything else in the service industry, it all depends on the crew.