Toledo City Council members frustrated with bulk pickup services, neighborhood blight

May 11—Toledo City Councilman Theresa Gadus in late March drove through several East Toledo neighborhoods in her district looking for trash that had been put out to the curb but not picked up.

"It took me five hours, and I got 80 piles of garbage and put them in the system," she told a Republic Services representative during a committee meeting last week. "Some of them have been sitting there for a year."

The amount of bulk garbage, or trash that doesn't fit in the plastic totes Republic provides each household, that goes uncollected in Toledo is an eyesore for many neighborhoods. Toledo's council members frequently field complaints from residents about discarded furniture and piles of trash sitting at the curb, and they want answers from the refuse company tasked with keeping the city clean.

Councilman Cecelia Adams invited Republic representatives to a Neighborhoods, Community Development, and Health Committee meeting on May 6 so elected officials could express their concerns and pitch solutions.

"Is Republic passing by bulk that's next to garbage and leaving it there and it's not getting picked up? That has been the problem," Ms. Adams said.

Scott Cabauatan, municipal services manager for the company, said there are a few reasons why a bulk refuse pile may be passed by a Republic truck driver without being collected. Often times the trash isn't properly bundled, sometimes piles include items Republic doesn't accept, and drivers can only pick up bulk trash when it's properly hauled out to the curb.

When a driver does see trash at the curb that doesn't meet its hauling standards, they're supposed to radio Republic so the company can report it to the city's Beautification Action Team. He said the company doesn't have the ability to cite or fine residents who don't follow the bulk pickup guidelines; that type of blight enforcement is up to the city's code enforcement division.

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He suggested the company and the city work together to educate residents on what is and isn't acceptable to place out for bulk pickup.

Ms. Gadus said the education goes both ways, and she wants to see Republic coach its drivers on their responsibility to help residents properly dispose of large items and to call in bulk pickups that a homeowner hasn't already put into the system so the piles can be added to a Republic pickup route.

She said blight has a psychological impact on city residents and can make them feel undervalued.

"If you're looking around and there's tires piling up, and there's garbage, and the city can't take care of it and Republic can't take care of it — it's just not right. It's not right for the residents of the city, it's not right for our kids growing up," she said. " At the end of the day, it's about showing the residents we care about them."

Mr. Cabauatan said bulk pickups have been increasing in the last several years, and 2021 is already on pace to have higher demand than last year. In 2019 Republic made 14,500 bulk pickup stops from January through April. That number grew slightly for the same time period in 2020, to 14,700.

This year Republic drivers serviced 21,300 bulk pickup stops from January through April, an increase of 6,600 from the year prior.

"We continue to coach our drivers on calling in bulk stops and proper bulk stop reporting and communication. That has gotten much better," Mr. Cabauatan said.

Councilman John Hobbs said the city and Republic have to treat every neighborhood fairly and recognize the negative impact unaddressed blight has on quality of life.

"I can guarantee that the areas surrounding the Solheim Cup that's coming, those areas will be picked up, with no questions asked," he said. "I think we have to treat every area of the city the same."

Toledo is in a 10-year contract with Republic for trash and recycling collections. It costs taxpayers about $10 million a year and expires in 2026.

"This is an ongoing struggle. And I appreciate the efforts that are being made. At the same time, we have been looking at this contract. It's a very long contract, and we don't want to be taken advantage of or not taken care of properly," Ms. Adams said.

"Our citizens deserve to have their trash picked up. They don't understand all of these nuances that we're talking about in this committee meeting. All they see is that they put some trash out there and it either got picked up or it didn't get picked up."

Mr. Cabauatan committed to returning to council's committee meetings to provide regular reports on the bulk pickup service and Republic's improvement efforts.

To request a bulk pickup, Toledo residents may call 419-936-2511.

First Published May 10, 2021, 5:06pm