Piles of garbage and old furniture line the streets of Athens at the end of every school year, but this year city officials have a new way of dealing with the trash.
City trash collectors will be running extra shifts of garbage pickup starting June 11 in an attempt to control the amount of trash, said Ray Hazlett, assistant city service-safety director.
The extra pickup times will be at 2:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m. and noon. The schedule will continue every day, including weekends, along with regular pickups until the cleanup is complete, he said.
The amount of trash that can be found on the street in Athens can get out of hand in June. Some places look like the tenants just threw items out the window, Hazlett said. Often times students who are moving out just put their garbage on the curb when they leave with no regard for the schedule.
"The regularly scheduled trash pickup goes out the window," he said.
City officials would like for tenants who are moving out of their rentals to notify the utilities office of their departure date when they call for their final utilities reading, he said. This allows city workers to get an idea of what days and what areas are going to be the worst.
If any residences are found not following trash removal guidelines, they will be given 24 hours to clean their property. After that time, city workers being paid overtime will be sent to clean the property and the resident will be billed for the labor.
Offenders sometimes are referred to the Ohio University judiciaries because officials do not have the names of people who live at the addresses. Councilwoman Nancy Bain, D-3rd ward, said city officials are trying to implement a system so that officials have the addresses and the names of residents in violation.
This would require cooperation between the city and OU, she said. But the landlords are ultimately responsible for the properties and may be cited for the actions of the tenants.
Generally tenants are then charged out of their deposits, Bain said. If city officials had access to the names of the residents, they either would work with them or cite them directly.
Though officials are intensifying trash pickup this year, Bain said she still would like to see more people giving items like food and furniture away rather than throwing them away.
"It's a sickening amount of stuff that gets pitched," she said. "There's always someone out there who can use it."
ReUse Industries, 100 N. Columbus Rd., diverted many items from the stream of garbage last year, Bain said.
Rob Kaminski works for ReUse Industries as a VISTA, or Volunteer In Service To America. He said he works as a liaison to the city and helps spread word out about the ReUse program through public service announcements, community calendars and fliers.
Last year 71 percent of the materials collected were specifically designated for ReUse Industries. Kaminski said this is evidence the act of donating is becoming more of a part of student consciousness.
ReUse Industries will collect all sorts of items June 8-18. Call the store locally at 698-8200 Tuesday through Saturday.
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Liz Amrhein
