It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who drove or walked around the area where garbage is picked up on Mondays, but there was more yard waste out there than the city anticipated.

Not having collected yard waste since March 27, some residents had been dragging it out to the curb anyway and others must have spent a good part of Sunday, May 3 carrying yard waste out to the street.

The result is that the city announced on Wednesday, May 5 that it was not going to be able to meet its two to three day collection schedule, which is good news for procrastinators. People who have their garbage collected on Mondays were supposed to have their yard waste out to the street by 7 a.m. on Monday, May 4 and Monday, May 18. But if you’re in that Monday group and the yard waste on your street hasn’t been picked up yet, you can still get it out to the street. If your street has been picked up then you’ll have to wait for May 18 for the next pickup.

If your garbage is picked up Tuesday, you should have your yard waste at the curb by 7 a.m. on Monday, May 11 and Tuesday, May 26.

If your garbage is picked up on Thursday, you should have your yard waste to the curb by 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 7 and Thursday, May 21.

If your garbage is picked up Friday, you should have your yard waste to the curb by 7 a.m. on Thursday, May 14 and Thursday, May 28.

If you don’t want to wait for the city, residents can still take yard waste to the White Street Landfill at no charge in cars, vans, pickup trucks and non-dumping trailers. If you show up in a dump truck, even if you are a city resident, you will be charged by the ton. The White Street Landfill is open from 7:50 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Although the city has determined it can’t comply with the two to three day schedule, it will get the yard waste picked up. It’s simply going to take a little longer.

City Manager David Parrish said that one of the issues that had slowed down the process was that some residents had really heavy containers out to be picked up. Each container is not supposed to weigh more than 50 pounds and each household is asked not to put more than 10 bags or containers out at one time.

Parrish said it would help move the process along at a quicker pace if residents would observe those requests.

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