Winter woes

Routines are turned upside down when two feet of snow fall from the sky in less than a week. For some Coeur d’Alene residents that means taking the garbage out the front door instead of leaving it out back.

Waste Management began notifying alley garbage pickup customers Tuesday that they will need to leave their cans on the street in front of their homes until further notice, tagging containers with an explanation. The alleys are just too clogged with snow for garbage trucks to get through, said Waste Management District Manager Steve Roberge.

“Overall the response has been good. People have been understanding,” Roberge said.

Alleys are difficult to traverse in even the best weather, he explained. Power poles, fences and parked cars can create issues. Add snow berms and it’s next to impossible to get anything down the narrow roadways.

Still, Waste Management is forced to continue collecting some commercial customers’ garbage from alley dumpsters because the businesses have no other options for dumpster placement. In those cases a two-man team uses a smaller truck and winch to drag the dumpster out of the alley.

“I’ve been hand-loading cardboard into a pickup for commercial customers, anything to get the job done,” Roberge said.

About 20 percent of Waste Management’s customers – 2,000 to 2,500 homes and businesses – usually have their garbage collected from back alleys. How long that alley service will be suspended depends on how long the alleys remain impassible.

Garbage and recycling pick-ups have been proceeding on schedule.

Those customers who were missed because their cans were in an alley may leave out extra garbage next week at no charge, Roberge said.

Just make sure to put it out front.