Customers are asked to keep carts out for pickup in case air quality improves
Marlene Feist, Public Works, (509) 625-6505
Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 7:52 a.m.
Some garbage, recycling, and yard waste pickup today in residential areas in the City of Spokane will be delayed again this morning as the City continues to help protect workers in hazardous air quality conditions. Customers who were missed on Monday as well as Tuesday customers are asked to keep their carts out for pickup throughout the day in case air quality improves.
Crews also hope to be able to proceed with night-shift garbage pickup in the downtown core this evening. Customers who receive downtown cart pickup during the night shift have been asked to put out their carts a day late all week, with Friday customers putting their carts out for pickup on Saturday.
Pack-out services are suspended, and extra bags of garbage won’t be collected today.
Garbage pickup done by automated trucks that allow Solid Waste Collections employees to stay inside their vehicles will proceed as normal today. Locations that require the use of smaller, rear loader trucks that require employees to load the garbage into the truck manually may not receive service today and some locations that are served with those trucks did not receive service on Monday. Rear loader trucks require an employee to manually load garbage from about 550 locations in a single shift.
The City will work to use other vehicles for pickup in these areas as much as possible. Commercial service is proceeding as usual. City crews are noting areas they were unable to access. The City will provide updated information if hazardous air quality conditions persist.
Tuesday’s collection area is located primarily in far Northeast Spokane and in the Southeast. The boundaries for Tuesday pickup is represented by the orange color on the City’s garbage pickup day map.
The City restricts strenuous outdoor work by employees as much as possible when air quality dips into the hazardous range, according to the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency’s index. That index is available on the agency’s web site.
