New Recycle cans in the neighborhood

[5pointy]

Well the new 96 gallon recycle cans arrived today,--grey with bright yellow tops -- quite festive as they line our little street up and down,,just in time for Luminaria! We live in a multi-unit propery and each unit has one. No place on the property to store these big boys except on the street. Our little blue tubs were able to be brought inside after pick up. These are huge  rolling carts.

The pick up schedule will be changed to only once every two weeks. We all recycle in our units, but together we probably need one can, not four.
Does anyone know how other urban neighboods have dealt with all these cans with limited space? They seem more designed for large suburban homes with 3 car garages.

The notice we got suggested that we will all be getting new trash containers too--so we will have 8 monsters soon. Lined up, they take up the entire property frontage.

[Josh]

I'm sure RAP will love the timing. I think the rain is gonna put a damper on the festivities anyway.

I didn't know the cans were gonna be this size. They're massive. I was anticipating 50-55 gallon volume.

[Charles Hunter]

In the suburban areas that got them earlier, you could request a smaller size - I think in the 50-60 gallon range.  But everyone gets the bigs ones to start.  Don't know if that's available to the "old city" areas now getting them.

[ProjectMaximus]

Same problem here in San Marco. Delivered last Tuesday to our triplex...initially no idea where to store them especially once the trash bins arrive. As the landlord, we're thinking of using one or two for the complex and storing the rest somewhere offsite.

My parents on the southside got theirs about a year ago...of course they are very happy with theirs.

[5pointy]

I'm sure RAP will love the timing. I think the rain is gonna put a damper on the festivities anyway.

Yep. Just came past Riverside Park, all the little white bags sagging and soggy.
At least we have a lot of bins to put the paper in to recycle now.

I didn't know the cans were gonna be this size. They're massive. I was anticipating 50-55 gallon volume.

From looking at the coj.net Solid Waste FAQ apparently there is a smaller 64 gallon size. You can request that, but they specifically state that they want you to try the big size for 60-90 days first.
Really, these things are big enough to live in!

[camarocane]

Just moved to avondale from Bartram and we had them there. I had a two car garage filled with a few toys and they definitly did not fit! These will have to remain outside as well.

[jcjohnpaint]

Mine will stay outside as well. 

[urbanlibertarian]

I'm sure RAP will love the timing. I think the rain is gonna put a damper on the festivities anyway.

Yep. Just came past Riverside Park, all the little white bags sagging and soggy.
At least we have a lot of bins to put the paper in to recycle now.

I didn't know the cans were gonna be this size. They're massive. I was anticipating 50-55 gallon volume.

From looking at the coj.net Solid Waste FAQ apparently there is a smaller 64 gallon size. You can request that, but they specifically state that they want you to try the big size for 60-90 days first.
Really, these things are big enough to live in!

If you switch to a smaller one maybe you can donate the big one to the Sulzbacher.  ;-)

[carpnter]

They also allow for more items to be recycled now, before it was just a couple types of plastics, now it is nearly everything with a number on it.  We manage to nearly fill ours up every two weeks and it is just the wife and me.

[mtraininjax]

Plus wheeling them to the street are much easier than a blue bin without wheels.

[thekillingwax]

Might not have to do the blue bin hunt either, trying to find where the angry truck guy has thrown your bin. Is it in the bushes? A neighbor's yard? In a tree? Who knows?

[jaxlore]

I am cool with the new cans as long as our older neighbors can request smaller ones. We have a few retired folks on the block and I can see them having issues.

[Debbie Thompson]

In Springfield, we all got the smaller ones, and a bunch of us need the bigger ones, especially now that practically everything can be recycled.  But at least, as Killing Wax said, we don't have to find and re-tape the smashed up blue bin that the recycle guy threw as hard as he could from the middle of the street.  Not kidding, I've seen it.

[Dog Walker]

We've had our first pickup in Riverside this past Friday.  It seemed to go pretty well.  Rather than expensive new trucks that dump stuff into the top, the City has used attachments to the back of their regular trucks.  Still two guys on the back of each truck, but they only have to make two trips to the curb rather than multiple trips for all of the stuff that used to be outside the blue bins.  There is also a lot less "spillage" with the new bins.

It looks like the City has also picked up the big bins in front of vacant houses and apartments so they aren't just sitting outside in the yard.

But what's with the sudden craze for safety yellow on everything?  The new sidewalk ramps all have bright yellow alert pads when the first few put in had brick colored ones.  The safety yellow tops on the new bins are just plain ugly and are a visual blight when the bins cannot be put out of sight.  With out small houses, small lots and no garages those of us in Riverside have to put the bins alongside our houses where they are still visible from the street.  They could have made the tops the same blue as the bins and they would still be different from the garbage bins but wouldn't be so screemingly bright.

Note to Public Works:  Hold a couple of public meetings before making decisions that change things that everyone can see.

[edjax]

^^ I think after a while the garbage trucks will also work as the recycle and pick the bins up from the curb and not require another person. When they first introduced the new bins in our area it was the same way.  The reason we were told was they still did not have enough of the newer trucks so they did the quick retrofit of the old trucks you described until the waste company could get the new tricks online. After a few months they then switched both recycle and garbage to pick the bins up directly from curbside and only have a driver working the route.