Snow has trash heaping, customers steaming

Published 10:46 pm Sunday, December 28, 2008

Lila Marquez is tired of talking trash.

Marquez, who lives in the Continental Plaza apartments on Wetmore Avenue, took her trash out Sunday afternoon and stared at the large pile of black and white bags heaped on top of one another.

The pile is an enormous eyesore, she said.

Since the winter storms that blanketed the area in 2 to 3 feet of snow, waste and recyclable trash removal came to a screeching halt across most of Snohomish County. Waste bins that were usually emptied promptly once a week were overflowing. Some trash removal services have been slow to return to their routes because of hazardous road conditions.

In Marquez’s opinion, that excuse is just a lot of garbage.

“I still go to work, why can’t they?” She said. “I still have to drive to Lynnwood and I see garbage trucks on their runs.”

Marquez, 56, who is staying with her boyfriend for the holidays, claims she has bags of garbage in the apartment from before Christmas.

“We’ve only been taking out garbage that smells, with food in it. We don’t want to contribute to this huge pile,” she said. “But there are sacks of garbage everywhere in there and it looks filthy. I’m tired of living like this.”

While some parts of Everett may still have to deal with an overabundance of trash, some cities have seen their garbage collection services return with different results.

In Marysville, garbage trucks returned to work on Friday, doubling their staff to make up for missed pick-up routes, said community information officer Doug Buell.

“As many missed garbage pickups along way as road conditions allow,” said Buell. “Saturday pickup service should be on schedule, and will give us another chance going into next week.”

The predominant concern is the icy road conditions going into the foothills and outlying areas that may have not been plowed or sanded.

Garbage trucks will try to finish their routes if road conditions allow them to do so. He added that any extra garbage should be placed next to their garbage cans and it would be picked up at no extra charge.

In Edmonds, garbage service skipped nary a beat.

Sound Disposal, which collects garbage in the downtown Edmonds bowl area, was able to continue to collect on almost all of its route during the snowy period, missing only Christmas for the holiday.

“We have a pretty compact area. Usually it’s not as bad close to the water,” company owner Evelyn Nicholson said Friday.

Nicholson said the company missed pick-ups on a few of the hillier streets, but got most everything else.

The company made Thursday’s pick-ups on Friday and planned to make Friday’s on Saturday, she said. The same schedule is planned for New Year’s Day and the days following, Nicholson said.

Back in Everett, Marquez reached up and placed her white trash bag on the top of the pile — then watched as it slipped and rolled to the bottom, coming to a stop against her sneakers.

She sighed and threw her hands up.

“All this trash really makes you think just how wasteful we are,” Marquez said. “I just want it gone.”

Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.