NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — If you take a ride down Tullis Drive in Algiers, you’ll find garbage scattered across the neutral ground and on the side of the road. Residents in Algiers say it’s been weeks since trash has been collected, and folks who live on Tullis say the debris continues to pile up.
Like Roschelle Rumley, who says garbage pick-up has been almost non-existent since Hurricane Ida.
“They picked up the trash cans twice since I’ve been here, but the trash….one time and that was like right at when they put nothing out,” said Rumley.
The trash she’s talking about is a combination of household waste, storm debris, and damaged furniture.
We spoke to New Orleans Councilwoman Kristin Palmer, who explains why the garbage hasn’t been picked up.
“Those three wastes cannot be co-mingled. they have to be separated because often they go to different dumps, and then different contractors, different emergency contractors have different contracts, and those contracts have to be monitored in order from reimbursement from FEMA,” said Palmer.
Palmer says waste that’s mixed will often not get picked up by garbage trucks because they’re only supposed to pick up the waste inside of your bin.
Rumley says it all needs to picked-up immediately.
“if you’re in a storm, you know, you goin’ through something, who thinks ‘let me separate the things,? No, come on councilwoman, let’s be serious. Have them just pick up the trash, let them separate it on their end,” said Rumley.
Councilwoman Palmer says the fastest way to get rid of the trash is to keep it organized.
“Don’t throw something on top of something else because that is actually going to delay the city’s ability and these contractors’ ability to pick it up in a timely fashion,” said Palmer.
Councilwoman Palmer says the first round of pick-up will happen between now and October 22 and the second round of pick-up will start on October 23. She also wants to remind constituents that dumping will not solve the trash issue in the neighborhood and says the city is working on installing more cameras and license plate readers to identify those who dump.