In the latest wrinkle in the San Diego trash pickup saga, some residents are saying the city of San Diego dropped off the new black bins but never took away the old ones.
The city is now charging for trash pickup for the first time ever, and, as part of that change, they’ve been replacing the old black bins with new gray ones. Some have reported workers taking away the old ones, but not dropping off the new ones.
And now in several neighborhoods, some residents say that their old black bins have been sitting out uncollected for almost two weeks.
“It would be great if they’d just take it,” said Jackson West, of North Park.
When West got his new gray bin, the city never collected the old one, so now he and many of his neighbors have to leave them in the street indefinitely, just waiting for the city to come back.
“It’s mostly just annoying for parking, as parking is already so bad, and now, you’re going around trying to find a spot and there’s trash cans in all of them,” West said.
There’s another, more fragrant issue in the neighborhood full of dog owners.
“Oh, they definitely put poop bags in the trash cans,” West said, referring to the old bins sitting on the street, which are supposed to remain empty for pickup. “I mean, then you get hot poop smell from all the trash cans out.”
In Kensington, Maureen Sweeney said she had similar troubles with her old bins.
“They were super efficient to let us know that they were dropping off the new gray ones,” Sweeney said. “And so now, we’re like, ‘OK, let’s get these black ones picked up.’”
Sweeney tried to report the problem via the city’s Get It Done app but struggled to fill out all the information requested.
“So I didn’t get any further in the app,” Sweeney said. “So I’m happy to see you here.”
NBC 7 first met Shirley Sawyer, a City Heights resident at a city office in September when she showed up to try to pick her bin size by the deadline. The office told her that it was not accepting walk-ins, so she left — unable, to this day, to make her selection.
“I don’t need the the big one. I just need the small one. And that’s all I was trying to do,” Sawyer said, adding, “That’s not the way to do business, you know? Make it a little easier on us.”
City spokesman Jeremy Bauer said that the city plans on going block by block to review the process and that, if there are any outstanding black containers, the city will pick them up.
“We thank San Diegans for engaging with us, letting us know where there are any outstanding issues to address, and we stand by to assist them,” Bauer said.
About 30,000 black bins have been swapped out so far, according to the city. Anyone who still has an old can is being asked to leave it at the curb and file a Get It Done complaint.
But over and over, residents have expressed frustration with the change and the rollout.
“There’s a lot — I get it,” Sweeney said. “There’s a lot on everybody’s plate, and efficiency is what everybody wants to see. And that’s what we’re hoping for.”
The full rollout is going to take about a year, according to city officials, asking for patience.
About 20,000 properties were also dropped from city pickup due to the change, with roughly a quarter of those still looking for a private hauler service.
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