Dependable Erection

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Durham: Left hand, meet right hand

Longtime DE readers, and people who know me in the real world, know that i really don't like the city's current yard waste program. Durham is practically the only city in NC that charges both a start up fee, to purchase a yard waste cart, and a monthly subscription fee to have the cart emptied. It's almost certainly the only city which does that and does not have a policy in place to pick up all of the leaves that fall off our trees each autumn.

The end result is predictable - fewer than 25% of Durham's households participate in the yard waste program, there's illegal dumping of yard waste in the trash, in empty lots, and in our creeks and streams, and whenever there's a decent amount of rain, our storm sewers back up and clog, resulting in localized urban flooding.

Nevertheless, every year for the past 6 years, Mrs. D. dutifully writes, over my protestations, a check to the city to continue our participation in the yard waste program. And, just as dutifully it seems, the Solid Waste Department neglects to send us the sticker for our container indicating that we've paid up. My part in the program is to not notice that the sticker hasn't arrived until after i do my winter raking and place all my leaf bags out at the curb.

That's what i did two weekends ago. I generally wait till late December/early January to do this project because, for some reason, the trees on my block tend to hold on to their leaves till after Christmas. Some of my oaks still haven't dropped their leaves. And on Friday, Jan. 11th, the fruits of my labor lined the curb in front of my house, waiting for the yard waste truck. I made sure no cars blocked the path. When i got home that afternoon, all the other yard waste on the block had been picked up, except for mine.

That's when i realized that the sticker on the brown cart said "good through Sept. 07." So i called Mrs. D., who confirmed that we were paid up. I called Durham One-Call, who transferred me to the yard waste program, who confirmed that we were paid up, that a sticker had never been mailed, that one would be put in the mail that very afternoon, and that a supervisor would be on a truck the very next morning (Saturday the 12th) to pick up my yard waste. I said i appreciated that, but that it wasn't necessary. So long as it got picked up before the bags fell apart i'd be happy. She assured me it was no trouble.

So i was a bit surprised when i saw a yard waste truck drive up my block on Saturday morning, turn around at the end of the street, and drive away, without touching my yard waste. Maybe it was still a sticker issue?

I called back on Monday afternoon, spoke to a different person in the yard waste program who confirmed that we were paid up, that a sticker hadn't been sent to us yet, that she was putting one in the mail immediately, and that when i got it i should put it on the cart. And that my yard waste would be picked up on the next scheduled run through the neighborhood, which is tomorrow. Meantime, i should just leave my yard waste at the curb.

Sticker arrived in the mail on Tuesday. I put it on the cart immediately.

And lo and behold, when i got home from work last night, the yard waste had magically disappeared. Now i can get the leaves that are piled up in the backyard out to the curb this weekend.

I can't wait till we lose this program later this year, and start picking up everyone's yard waste regardless of whether they've got a sticker or not. Kudos to Donald Long for getting council to go along with the new program.

UPDATE: Cool. Our second yard waste sticker arrived today. Maybe i can sell it on eBay.

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15 Comments:

  • While they may not have a list of all the expired stickers that are actually paid up, they definitely have a list of all the valid stickers that have changed ownership.

    When we moved into our current home in April of '06, the previous owners had a yard waste container with a decal that was valid through October '06. One call to Durham One Call, in June 2006, to report that our neighborhood's yard waste wasn't being picked up for two weeks and we suddenly found ourselves with the only yard waste that wasn't being picked up and a bill from the city for a year's worth of "unpaid" yard waste services.

    By Blogger Dan S., at 10:53 AM  

  • I went to the yard waste mothership off Club to buy my sticker (I'd collected much waste, but somehow had missed the annual stickering festival), and was amused by the large number of yard and garbage containers randomly scattered in the adjoining field. It looks like they had been retired by literally being put out to pasture. Strange and untidy for waste management professionals. It looks like a bad art installation.

    By Blogger Unknown, at 12:23 PM  

  • I didn't know what to do about my leaves, given what I had read over the past year. I wasn't sure it was worth it to pay up.

    Fortunately, I came home yesterday to find my whole yard had been raked. The previous owner's yard service hadn't scratched my home off their list. :)

    So what's the gist of the "new program"? Is there just a one-time fee now? Or is it part of routine waste fees?

    By Blogger toastie, at 12:37 PM  

  • Adrienne - looks like i know where to go for my next photo assignment.

    toastie - as i understand it, there will be a one-time flat fee (30 - 40 bucks) for the cart. everyone who has a cart will have their yard waste picked up on a regular basis. i'm not sure if bagged leaves will be picked up each fall from people who have not bought the cart, but i think they will. also, at some point, Durham will enter the late 20th century and acquire a couple of the rolling vacuum cleaners that most cities currently use to suck up the leaves that fall in the street from the trees that survive Duke Energy's pruning program.

    And all will be swell.

    By Blogger Barry, at 12:44 PM  

  • Cool, I don't have to pay for my sticker anymore? Yippee!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:10 PM  

  • We inherited our bin from the previous owner, and we only found out about the entire process after sweeping out our yard and bagging everything up. Once nobody picked up our waste, we dug up the policy and paid the bill. When we finally got the sticker, they STILL failed to pick up the waste until we called and complained.

    By the time the service finally emptied our bin, the biodegradable bags we had placed beside it had started to... well, to biodegrade. They left those bags after apparently having one collapse on them when they attempted to pick it up.

    Now, I'm not out to kill the environment or anything, but by the time it was all worked out I had seriously considered throwing everything into plastic bags and sending it to the landfill. Good riddance to this system.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:06 PM  

  • Today at the City Council's budget retreat, we heard a presentation from Solid Waste director Donald Long about the proposed comprehensive yard waste program that I have advocated and the department supports. If we approve this as part of the budget, we won't have stories like this again. If you agree with me that we need a rational solid waste program, please let the Council know.

    Mike Woodard

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:25 PM  

  • Thanks, Mike. I thought this was a done deal.

    You'll have my email tomorrow.

    By Blogger Barry, at 7:29 PM  

  • I know this isn't always an option for everyone, but it saves a lot of time, nutrients and energy if you just run your lawnmower over the leaves and let them decay naturally.

    By Blogger Lenore, at 10:37 PM  

  • Just for the record, I sent Donald Long a thank-you note last year after he personally made sure we got our yard waste sticker after the second complaint. I figure we spend enough time kvetching about city services that I do like to acknowledge a job well done. So I was disappointed that the same situation happened again this year.

    Mr. D usually runs over some of the leaves to add to the compost, but we get so darn many that it would probably clog the mower to run over them all.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:53 PM  

  • My new garbage can was delivered yesterday. Now I have two - one holey and one unholey. I am so happy.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:03 AM  

  • Yeah, usually i do shred the leaves and add them to the compost pile (or at least as much as will fit. Without much difficulty, i can fill up 65 - 75 of those brown paper leaf bags in the fall.) I just ordered a couple of rolling compost bins though, and i don't want to add anything to the current pile. I'd like to spread that out on the garden as much as possible when the new composters arrive, and start those from scratch. If they get here in the next day or two, i'll shred the backyard leaves next weekend when it's a touch warmer and add those to the compost.

    By Blogger Barry, at 11:18 AM  

  • With regards to "How does Syracuse do it" in the other thread, you should be damn glad that Durham's not in upstate NY. They'd do as good a job with snow removal as they did with trash removal and you'd be stuck in the house until the spring thaw.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 11:19 AM  

  • To adrienne,
    Those scattered carts in the adjoining field is our training ground for new automated drivers. They are spaced out to simulate a regular pickup route. Its not strange or untidy, but is very professional.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:55 PM  

  • Oh, I have also heard rumors that some cheap and/or clever people have been known to purchase and license only a single bin which is shared between multiple households.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 2:09 PM  

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