Keeping Trash In Garbage Trucks Part of Litter Problem

Do you think El Paso is trashed? Many people do.

And a big part of that problem seems to be simply getting the trash in the garbage trucks and keeping it there.

At least part of that problem is due to high winds and people not doing their part to dispose of trash properly. But El Paso’s garbage men may also be to blame.

“There was trash all over.” Central El Paso resident Juan Nunez told ABC-7 Tuesday morning after trash pickup left him with a mess in front of his home. “It happens all the time. You can still see a bag under my Mustang. I had to come out here and pick up the trash.”

Nunez isn’t the only one with that problem. Over the past month, ABC-7’s Darren Hunt has been documenting trash pickup the Cielo Vista neighborhood where he lives.

He compiled pictures of his neighbor’s trash bin with trash left on the street after pickup. Another picture showed his neighbor’s blue bin, a week later, left 6 feet out in the road and causing a potential traffic hazard. Other pictures showed a milk carton and big box a block over after Tuesday’s trash pickup.

Ellen Smythe, director of the Environmental Services Department, told ABC-7 that is a concern to her. The station asked her whether her employees should get out of the truck and pick up that trash.

“The general rule is no, they don’t get out of the truck and pick that up,” said Smythe, who further explained that after going to a fully-automated system, with just the driver in truck, her employees never touch the trash. “You are the last person to touch your trash. You bag it and put it into the gray bin and nobody ever touches it again.”

ABC-7 then showed Smythe video of trash trucks on Interstate 10 spewing trash out of the back.

“That shouldn’t happen,” Smythe said. “I’ll talk to the guys about that.”

Smythe called trash pickup a partnership. She promised her employees will do a better job keeping trash in the trucks, but El Pasoans must also do their part, including:

?Bag the trash that goes in the gray bins (remember to NOT bag the trash in the recycle bins, however)

?Keep the bins close to the curb on pickup day

?Don’t overload your bin (the lid must close)