Public works: private waste companies to blame for missed collection – WISH-TV | Indianapolis News | Indiana weather

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INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – In some areas of Indianapolis, recycling bins have not been touched for weeks. At the same time, the garbage has also been left in place for weeks.

The Department of Public Works says it is in control, but not everyone is convinced.

I-Team 8 sent a drone to sweep the alleys on the north side and we found a lot of trash and recycling bins intact and in some cases overflowing.

Wes Daughtry is among those who are not entirely sure whether his garbage and recycling will be picked up on time or not at all. He and his neighbors had to wait weeks for the trash to arrive.

So they had a few incidents where they just missed it, ”Daughtry said. “They came down to our aisle and narrowly missed it.

I think it’s clear they have issues getting workers like in many other places in the COVID age, he added.

In a statement sent to I-Team 8, Public Works said, “While increasing volumes of waste and staff issues – each exacerbated by the pandemic in their own way – continue to be problematic across the city, an increase in missed waste calls in recent weeks has been observed mainly in solid waste districts managed by Republic Services.

Public Works distributed large sections of the city’s garbage to private companies. According to Public Works, Republic has had a contract with the city for more than 20 years. Almost all of the recycling bins found by I-Team 8 were Republic bins, most of them full or overflowing.

I-Team 8 also found Public Works trash cans in the same condition.

Aside from the fact that the garbage is not collected, the frustration has been the city’s lack of communication.

“I actually reached out to the mayor’s line of action and generally they’re responsive and they just turned down the request, so it’s clear they’ve had issues,” Daughtry said.

Public Works and Republic said in a joint statement that they had identified the issues causing the delays, including personnel, a shortage of truck parts and the continued increase in the volume of solid waste.

Indy DPW and Republic Services are hopeful that these adjustments will resolve the situation and allow all routes to be collected in the future.

DPW says they will ask Republic to reimburse the city for not providing service.

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