trash collection in Central NJ sucks

[Relic]

argh!!!! Not only the trash collection, but we also have other services that periodically come out to take concrete, wood, old appliances, leaves and branches etc. They all suck.

So long as you only have food scraps and various small items secured in a plastic garbage bag, or a small selection of other items arbitrarily decided upon as 'ok" by the guy driving the truck, you're fine.

God help you if you have anything else, like for instance.....

-an old plastic garbage can that's cracked and broken damn near into two and full of holes from being run over several times. You put it out on the curb, on it's side, with the obvious HUGE jagged hole showing and do they take it? No. OK, my mistake, they may have thought it was still usable. You take a hammer to the beeatch and break it up into pieces and make sure that they wont mistake it for a usable can. Do they take it? No. You scribble a freaking note onto a piece of cardboard and tape it to the pile of garbage can pieces. It says: "GARBAGE, PLEASE TAKE" do they take it. No - they take the piece of cardboard. Only when I had to run out front when the truck was there and ask them to take it, did they do so.

-an old car tire, just one single one. Can they take it? No. Despite the fact that they have trucks out there picking up refrigerators, piles of broken glass, a pile of wood that used to be someone's deck, they cannot take a tire. I have to personally drop it off and pay to have them take it. So much for my super high taxes..

- I made the awful mistake of digging up an old metal clothes pole. Concrete anchor and pole. I put it out front figuring that the guys would take it? You know, the ones who come and take piles of broken concrete, freaking rebar, etc and such. Well, ohh no. Even though they take metal, and they take concrete, then can never take concrete and metal if they are attached.. I have to break up the concrete and call them once everything is "detached".

-leaves and branches. Oh, well, they are supposed to come through every 2 or 3 weeks. I call them, "yeah we're coming out", oops they missed my house. Call them again. "Yep, be there this week" they missed me again. I trim some trees, bushes, and rake the rest of the leaves and turn it into a 4' tall pile that they CANT miss, guess what? yep still there. This has been 3 months now.

-pizza boxes. They're toxic waste apparently. If you put one in the piles of cardboard recyclables, they guy tosses it back onto your lawn and takes the other stuff. If you put it in the garbage, the guy picking up the garbage tosses it it back onto your lawn..so apparently hiding it, mixed in with the regular garbage is ok?? Dont ask dont tell apparently..

just got off the phone beeatching to them again, it's useless..

[alec_mcmahon]

i've never had problems with pizza boxes, most of the time we just put them on top of our garbage pals and they take em no problem.


but NJ still does suck.

[MJ5150]

We don't have half those servies out here. Household garbage, cardboard, and yard waste is all they pickup around here.

-Mike

[Relic]

Originally Posted by excane

you stay out of this, New York!!

[excane]

muwhaha

[Bob Lee (QSC)]

So trash collection in central New Jersey sucks--you got a problem wit dat, buddy?

[Deluge Of Sound]

I thought this was going to be a thread about how hard it is to buy pork rolls...

[L-A]

Well I have to say, some of the stuff you talk about is done right.

Just like waxed cardboard, if a pizza box is greasy, most recycling centres can't process it. And judging by my past experiences, NJ doesn't feel the need for cutting edge recycling technology.

The place that melts your scrap metal can't take concrete, and the place that gives concrete a second chance don't want to lose the whole tank because someone put a metal pole in there. There's two separate processes to be done on two different materials.

Put the plastic garbage can in the recyclable stuff. Look under the bottom, there's a good chance you will see the sign, with a "2" in the middle. This is the type of plastic that is the easiest to recycle, IIRC.

Car tire? Man, that stuff takes ages to decompose. Of course, it's not standard trash. I know US is more liberal about what gets thrown in a landfill, but that is at the end of the "toxic" scale.

Around here, most of the non-standard stuff has to be taken to a sorting depot. I don't know how much this habit is enforced in NJ.

[MadMan118]

Where I lived as a kid there was no garbage collection 82-89, until 90' even then the servise sucked so bad we were still hauling and burning our own trash. The county finaly set up a semi-regular trash collection service, but it still sucks.

[tplyons]

Originally Posted by L-A

Well I have to say, some of the stuff you talk about is done right.

Just like waxed cardboard, if a pizza box is greasy, most recycling centres can't process it. And judging by my past experiences, NJ doesn't feel the need for cutting edge recycling technology.

The place that melts your scrap metal can't take concrete, and the place that gives concrete a second chance don't want to lose the whole tank because someone put a metal pole in there. There's two separate processes to be done on two different materials.

Put the plastic garbage can in the recyclable stuff. Look under the bottom, there's a good chance you will see the sign, with a "2" in the middle. This is the type of plastic that is the easiest to recycle, IIRC.

Car tire? Man, that stuff takes ages to decompose. Of course, it's not standard trash. I know US is more liberal about what gets thrown in a landfill, but that is at the end of the "toxic" scale.

Around here, most of the non-standard stuff has to be taken to a sorting depot. I don't know how much this habit is enforced in NJ.

Depending on the locale.

Up here, my town does trash twice a week, paper recycling every other Monday, opposite commingled recycling.

However, they've got some crazy rules sometimes. Recycling can can be no more than 22 gallons. Unfortunately, laundry detergent bottles take up so much of that crushed.

Annoying, but sure beats driving it to the recycling center myself.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by L-A

Well I have to say, some of the stuff you talk about is done right.

Just like waxed cardboard, if a pizza box is greasy, most recycling centres can't process it. And judging by my past experiences, NJ doesn't feel the need for cutting edge recycling technology.

The place that melts your scrap metal can't take concrete, and the place that gives concrete a second chance don't want to lose the whole tank because someone put a metal pole in there. There's two separate processes to be done on two different materials.

Put the plastic garbage can in the recyclable stuff. Look under the bottom, there's a good chance you will see the sign, with a "2" in the middle. This is the type of plastic that is the easiest to recycle, IIRC.

Car tire? Man, that stuff takes ages to decompose. Of course, it's not standard trash. I know US is more liberal about what gets thrown in a landfill, but that is at the end of the "toxic" scale.

Around here, most of the non-standard stuff has to be taken to a sorting depot. I don't know how much this habit is enforced in NJ.

Yeah that would seem to make sense but:
cardboard - they will take it oil-soaked from the back of garages and the local jiffy lube, they'll take boxes full of packing peanuts, but will toss the pizza box.. c'mon.. pizza grease is no where near motor oil, not to mention a lot tastier.

Concrete/metal - yeah I guess, but I still find it highly surprising that they don't just take it considering that they take both on the same damn truck. That plus, it's also weird that they'll just assume that any/all concrete they find will automatically be pure and free of any metal fragments and such? Bull. They check it sort it and clean it. For the taxes I pay, they can smash it up and take the metal.

The broken garbage can - The recyclables are for bottles only. YES, it's unbelievably true. If you throw glass or plastic in there that's not a bottle of some sort, they will take it out and toss it on your lawn. That includes old HDPE (high density polyethelene- I sold plastics at a past job) cutting boards, broken windows, whatever. If it's not something they can guarantee is a recyclable plastic or glass, out it goes. The garbage can would have ended up being thrown back. As it was I verbally asked the garbage men to take it and they finally did.

car tire? I'm just going to go throw it back into the woods behind my house where I found it. Hell with trying to be a good samaritan. Not really but I'm tempted..

[BillyRay]

Well, at least Garbage Day in Central NJ is better than where this guy lives.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by BillyRay

Well, at least Garbage Day in Central NJ is better than where this guy lives.

Nah that would be Trenton, NJ

[James Hart]

wow... your townships pick up your trash????!??

I've 3 or 4 choices of companies I can hire to come get mine. The big player is www.wm.com but they pad the bill something fierce. I use a local Mom & Pop outfit that supply me with a robocan, pick up whatever I put out 2x a week... no limits to number of bags and such. I pay them $90 a quarter.

[MadMan118]

Originally Posted by James Hart

wow... your townships pick up your trash????!??

I've 3 or 4 choices of companies I can hire to come get mine. The big player is www.wm.com but they pad the bill something fierce. I use a local Mom & Pop outfit that supply me with a robocan, pick up whatever I put out 2x a week... no limits to number of bags and such. I pay them $90 a quarter.

Better than my old trash collection service, the county where I grew up went through
like 5 diffrent contractors, and they all charged extra for driving up to where I lived, about 20 miles from the nearest town.

[Relic]

Originally Posted by James Hart

wow... your townships pick up your trash????!??

I've 3 or 4 choices of companies I can hire to come get mine. The big player is www.wm.com but they pad the bill something fierce. I use a local Mom & Pop outfit that supply me with a robocan, pick up whatever I put out 2x a week... no limits to number of bags and such. I pay them $90 a quarter.

I dunno, I guess I shouldn't complain but it just feels so good to

[MatticusMania]

Out here they pick up trash once a week. We have 2 garbage cans, one for household garbage, and one for yard waste.

Our trash is to fit nicely into its can with the lid closed. A trash truck rolls by with a metal arm, grabs it, and empties the trash into the truck, the driver never gets out.

If it wont fit into the can, it cant go. No way would they pick up a tire. We have specail services to recycle that sort of stuff. A concrete anchor with a metal pole? Nope.
Though, like 3 or 4 times a year we get to pile all kinds of huge misc. junk on our lawns to be hauled away.

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by Relic

argh!!!! Not only the trash collection, but we also have other services that periodically come out to take concrete, wood, old appliances, leaves and branches etc. They all suck.

So long as you only have food scraps and various small items secured in a plastic garbage bag, or a small selection of other items arbitrarily decided upon as 'ok" by the guy driving the truck, you're fine.

God help you if you have anything else, like for instance.....

-an old plastic garbage can that's cracked and broken damn near into two and full of holes from being run over several times. You put it out on the curb, on it's side, with the obvious HUGE jagged hole showing and do they take it? No. OK, my mistake, they may have thought it was still usable. You take a hammer to the beeatch and break it up into pieces and make sure that they wont mistake it for a usable can. Do they take it? No. You scribble a freaking note onto a piece of cardboard and tape it to the pile of garbage can pieces. It says: "GARBAGE, PLEASE TAKE" do they take it. No - they take the piece of cardboard. Only when I had to run out front when the truck was there and ask them to take it, did they do so.

-an old car tire, just one single one. Can they take it? No. Despite the fact that they have trucks out there picking up refrigerators, piles of broken glass, a pile of wood that used to be someone's deck, they cannot take a tire. I have to personally drop it off and pay to have them take it. So much for my super high taxes..

- I made the awful mistake of digging up an old metal clothes pole. Concrete anchor and pole. I put it out front figuring that the guys would take it? You know, the ones who come and take piles of broken concrete, freaking rebar, etc and such. Well, ohh no. Even though they take metal, and they take concrete, then can never take concrete and metal if they are attached.. I have to break up the concrete and call them once everything is "detached".

-leaves and branches. Oh, well, they are supposed to come through every 2 or 3 weeks. I call them, "yeah we're coming out", oops they missed my house. Call them again. "Yep, be there this week" they missed me again. I trim some trees, bushes, and rake the rest of the leaves and turn it into a 4' tall pile that they CANT miss, guess what? yep still there. This has been 3 months now.

-pizza boxes. They're toxic waste apparently. If you put one in the piles of cardboard recyclables, they guy tosses it back onto your lawn and takes the other stuff. If you put it in the garbage, the guy picking up the garbage tosses it it back onto your lawn..so apparently hiding it, mixed in with the regular garbage is ok?? Dont ask dont tell apparently..

just got off the phone beeatching to them again, it's useless..

Out here in Oregon, or at least Portland we have what I call the Land of the Prima Donna Trashman. We are very into recycling, seperate container for glass, metal, paper etc...trash has to be in their Provided Container. Thing is you empty a plastic milk container and you MUST recycle the jug or they will fine you, but not the cap or the seal that holds it on. seems that its a difficult to recycle plastic. If you put the cap in recycle, they will fine you. (And this a private company contracted to pick up the trash, not a municiple department.) If its card board, you must recycle it. Unless it came with human food in it. If its a card board box, you must recycle it, and you must break it down and fold it flat or they will fine you. Unless it came with expand a foam padding, in which case you mut cut the foam out and cut up the box and put it in with the garbage....or they will fine you. I have horses and stacked the think paper bags that the horse feed come in out for recycle, they left them. I called and apparently there guy didn't recognize them as paper, so he ignored them They never get out of the truck.

Your recycle must be segregated seperated out into paper, plastic, metal and glass, your tin cans must be rinsed out and free of any food contents. Same with your glass. And labels must be pealed off and put with the paper. Then the trucks come around, and except for the glass, they dump it all into the same bloody truck!

Back in Dec. we had an unusual and long snow, I live in a rather rural area even tho' I'm only 15 minutes from down town Portland. I could understand that they couldn't get the trucks to me to pick up my garbage and recycle. The first week, even the second week. By the third week things were starting to really pile up. They finally came. Then on the first I get a bill for an entire four weeks of service! Called them to get the bill reduced. They said sure, but It'll cost you extra (more than three weeks refund) because when they did pick up, the lids on the trash cans wouldn't close (no frickin' kidding!) and we were over weight! I'm like, sure you guys weigh the truck after every pick up? And I stomped up and down on the lid to make sure it was closed, cause I knew they would ding us for the lid even being up an inch. Sure enough, the trucks are equiped with scales, they notate the weight for each address before and after their robot arms pick up you can. They don't even ever have to touch you garbage, they never leave the truck. And they had video tapes; cameras mounted in the cab so they could show you your lid was up!

Its gotten to the point where I am going to put the bucket on the front of my tractor and dig a big hole and burry the stuff. Corse, it would probably kill some salmon 1000 ft. down the mountain and 20 miles away down the river and then they'd really get pissy.

[BillyRay]

Man, I'm all for protecting mother nature, but you guys have it tough. Pretty much need a BA to throw stuff away...

[rcarraher]

Originally Posted by BillyRay

Man, I'm all for protecting mother nature, but you guys have it tough. Pretty much need a BA to throw stuff away...

Thats the truth. It really is ridiculous.