Talking Trash: residents concerned about trash delays in the area
COLUMBUS (WCBI) – It’s a regular chore. You set your garbage out for pick-up on trash day.
But what happens when trash day rolls around, and it doesn’t get picked up?
Now multiply that by two, sometimes three days, and all of your neighbor’s garbage as well, and you’ll see why a lot of people are talking trash in Columbus.
Trash is steadily piling up in Columbus and Lowndes County.
In September, we reported about the shortages of staff and trucks at Golden Triangle Waste Services, the company that handles garbage pick-up for the city and the county, as well as others in the area.
It was also a topic of discussion at last night’s City Council meeting and the Mayor’s press conference this morning.
Columbus Mayor Keith Gaskin and the City Council have been fielding a lot of calls about a stinky situation.
“Waste management is not an easy area and I know that in some ways the waste management group as I mentioned earlier, Golden Triangle, works with about six different counties you know this is an unprecedented time for them having this many trucks down,” said Gaskin.
Golden Triangle Waste Services has had around half of its trucks in the shop and a new one on order for over a year.
Because of supply chain issues, that truck reportedly hasn’t even been built yet.
Mayor Gaskin and City Attorney Jeff Turnage met with representatives from Golden Triangle Waste Services to come up with options for the growing problem.
“First of all, we’ve got to look and see where we are in the contract. Secondly, we will be looking to see if the council members talked about this last night,
what are other potential groups that we could have a contract with, ” said Gaskin.
Regina Unruh, owner of Southern Sweets, a local bakery and ice cream shop said other problems are piling up along with all that garbage.
“The reason why we are concerned about it is because we’ve got animals around here, and they like to come in there and tear up our bags and we’re out there picking up trash,” said Unruh.
Unruh says that is a bad situation for everybody.
“It’s kind of a bad thing to have trash sitting around. I just hope they get their new trucks or the ones that are down I hope they can get them fixed,” said Unruh.
Many customers are also asking if they’ll see any relief on their bills to make up for times their garbage was not picked up.
“That’s a business decision that they will have to do because again we’re outsourcing this; this is not city employees doing the work,” said Gaskin.
WCBI did talk with management for Golden Triangle Waste.
They did not comment on today’s meeting but did say they are meeting with city leaders in Eupora on Monday in the search for solutions.
They ask that everyone be patient with them at this time.
