Dear Action Line,
The only time we’ve had snow in town this season, a few weeks ago, my garbage was not picked up (although my recycling was). I looked at the city website and it says that when pickup is delayed by snow or other weather it will be picked up the next day, just like with holidays. Well, I left it out and it wasn’t. What gives? And although my pickup day is Wednesday, I’ve always wondered about Friday pickups ‒ are there no Friday pickups, or are Friday pickups picked up on Saturday? Which makes me wonder – what’s so great for the garbage and recycling drivers on holidays if they just have to work on Saturday instead? Or maybe they get paid overtime?
‒ Bin There, Dun That
Dear Bin There,
I reached out to Tom Sluis at the city. Regarding that last snow event, which was only a few inches, garbage was in fact picked up that day – they must have just missed yours, which happens occasionally – maybe it was hiding behind a parked car or something?
The city website says to “allow 4 feet of clearance on all sides of your container. Obstructions such as cars, fences, poles, overflow trash, recycling containers, and other items can prevent the automated trucks from emptying your container.” Do most people do that? No, but that could explain it. Make the drivers’ job easier by leaving as much space as you can ‒ don’t waste their time.
As far as the holiday rules ‒ as you indicate, garbage and recycling are picked up the day after your normal day if there is a holiday on or before your normal day that week.
So for the next two weeks, Monday through Wednesday is normal, and Thursday and Friday are a day later.
Yes there is a Friday route (north side of town), so the drivers do have to work on Saturdays after a holiday – so it’s maybe not an additional day off, but at least they get to sleep in and open their presents on Christmas morning.
I couldn’t get any clear answer on the overtime question, but I hope they do get that ‒ it would really help with the presents.
But if you are like me, you sometimes forget about holidays, then you put the can out, they don’t come, and you have to relock the bear can (if manual) and reopen it the next day (not sure the bears know about the holidays).
The upcoming ones to be aware of are Christmas, New Year’s Day, MLK Day (Jan. 20), and Presidents Day (Feb. 17).
But rejoice and be merry! I’ll just throw out that the city has free email or text reminders you can sign up for at https://co-durango.civicplus.com/363/Recycling.
Pro hack ‒ sign up for the reminder to come early in the morning the day before so you’ll get notified that it’s delayed on holidays before you mistakenly put your cans out a day early.
And not every federal holiday has delayed pick up, but you can check the website to see which ones the city deems worthy.
Email questions and suggestions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301. Today’s Fun Fact: While Durango has been using mandatory trash containers for as long as I can remember, New York City didn’t start using them universally until last year, with bags just dumped on the curb until then, which didn’t help with their rat problem ‒ can you imagine what the raccoons and bears would do with that here?
