NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — The saga of New Orleans’s trash issues continues. The City announced that now through November trash pick up will happen only once a week for service areas one and two, impacting both the East and Westbank. City leaders believe this approach will bring a level of consistency to trash pick up, but some residents aren’t thrilled about the decision.
“I think it’s absurd. I think that we pay for two day a week trash pick up service and we should get two day a week plus one day of recycling, honestly,” said Uptown resident Whiton Paine.
“I don’t really like it, but if it’s only for a month I can handle it, but longer than that, no,” said Mid-City resident Kathleen Rhodes.
The City says the new once a week trash pick up will double the amount of trucks on the road on each day of service. Some residents say they’re just happy the city has come up with some kind of plan.
“I believe it’s good, it will work. After not having my trash picked up for almost six weeks, I’m grateful to see them once a week,” said Seventh Ward resident Cynthia Juhans.
The City says it will monitor the progress for service area one and determine if they will return to a twice weekly pick up. For service area two, the city is working on a new trash contract over the next 60 to 90 days.
Once that’s finalized, a decision on trash collection will be made.
Many New Orleanians say they just want consistency and a plan for trash collection, an issue that’s affecting their quality of life.
“It’s frustrating. It’s the same old, same old. It’s like we love this city but sometimes they make it really hard to love,” said Paine.
The sanitation fee will be suspended for the month of November and reflected as a credit on the Sewerage and Waterboard bill. A schedule of what days each neighborhood will be serviced can be found at https://nola.gov/sanitation/schedules/