St. Louis has a lot of trash and it stinks.
Dumpsters are overflowing. Broken furniture, trash bags, and mattresses are flooding alleys.
And residents are fuming about it.
“This is the worst I’ve seen the trash service ever in all the 31 years I’ve been involved with the City of St. Louis,” Sharon Tyus, alderwoman for Ward 1, said at an aldermanic board meeting earlier this month. “I’ll go out and drive a trash truck myself.”
@stlcsb trash pick up needed TODAY. 38xx & 36xx alley,Botanical & Shenandoah. 1st pic is 3819 Botanical pic.twitter.com/7tBIhoNF6E
— Soundimg the Alarm in Silver Bullet City (@GConnolly314) June 24, 2022
Hey @CaraSpencerSTL, my alley has looked like this for three weeks and every @stlcsb ticket I put in gets canceled. This is Nebraska/Cherokee. What can we do? Its becoming a health issue as well as blocking the ability to get into our alley at times. pic.twitter.com/x1PIvCKgcU
— Amanda (@amanda___price) June 25, 2022
The city's trash pick-up service is under-equipped and understaffed, the city claims.The city of St. Louis can’t even pick up trash properly but yet they’ll be trusted to make good decisions with the NFL settlement. 🤡🤡🤡🤡
— Scott Warren (@SW_HSHuddle) June 27, 2022
On Friday, June 24, the mayor’s office sent a letter to aldermen with an update from the Refuse Division and Betherny Williams, director of the Department of Streets.
In order to effectively clear trash in the city, the note explained, the department needs 45 total trucks. But as of June 24, only 37 trucks were operational.
The lack of working trucks coincides with a lack of drivers. The letter said that the city is also short 10 drivers.
On top of the shortages, the letter claims that people have stolen metal hooks from hundreds of dumpsters. The trucks use the hooks used to pick up dumpsters.I'm out of town until Tuesday but this is the update from Refuse last night. pic.twitter.com/BkTqaJvekK
— Annie Rice (@AnnieRiceStL) June 25, 2022
The city resumed alleyway recycling pickup last month after a year-long hiatus. Some aldermen have questioned whether mounting trash piles suggest trucks had to be diverted from garbage to recycling. City officials have insisted that’s not the case.
Regardless, the city says it is trying to fix the trash pickup issue. It has implemented a $3,000 hiring bonus to incentivize new drivers, added a second shift of mechanics to fix trucks, ordered new trucks, purchased 1,600 new trash cans and altered the way dumpster hooks are attached.@stlcsb 3513 Osage St needs attention! pic.twitter.com/zPLuACOhGI
— Bob C (@hibernianbob) June 21, 2022
KMOV also reported that the city will increase trash pick-up to seven days a week.
Still not empty pic.twitter.com/Xr0bOQ50bj
— Kenneth Hutchings (@Hutch1ngs) June 28, 2022
If the problem persists, the city will consider hiring a private contractor to target higher trash areas, according to FOX2. Williams told the TV station that she understands the urgency of the issue.The dumpsters along 4900 Bancroft/Sutherland haven’t been emptied in over 3 weeks. Can anyone help to escalate this issue? @Alderman14 @stlcsb #1593370 @saintlouismayor pic.twitter.com/a8z0dv1WWM
— C (@ClhRtrmr) June 22, 2022
“We know it is a problem, just as much as this is a problem for the citizens, I’m a citizen, and it’s a problem across the city because of the amount of trash we are seeing,” Williams said. “Those pictures are sent to me every day, and I forward them and I share them. I’m driving around the alleys trying to figure out how can we better collect this.”
