Garbage pickup on most fire lanes to resume by lake
Photos by Tom Rivers: Vince DeWind of Park Road in Carlton stands with a garbage can where the road intersects with Lakeside Park Road. The community didn’t have its garaged picked up on Monday when Modern Disposal said it would no longer do curbside pickups during the winter on many fire lanes in Carlton, Kendall and Yates.
CARLTON – Residents on many of the fire lanes and narrow roads by the lakeshore in Carlton were surprised to discover on Monday that Modern Disposal wouldn’t be picking up their garbage or recycling.
The company had notified the lakeshore towns – Carlton, Kendall and Yates – it had concerns over the narrow roadways. The company is using bigger trucks and Modern told residents in an email they had concerns for employees’ safety on the narrow roadways. Many of those are privately owned and aren’t maintained to the standards of a public road. There are more potholes and overheard limbs to contend with.
Modern told residents to take their garbage and recycling to collection points at the end of streets.
Town and county officials have received numerous phone calls and emails about the matter. The garbage and recycling contract is negotiated by the county.
Carlton Town Supervisor Gayle Ashbery said today she was caught off guard by the change that started this week.
After discussions with Modern, the company has agreed to resume garbage and recycling pickup on the seasonal roads, except for three – Erway Tract, Park Lane Extension and Sunset Island (by the peninsula north of Kuckville).
Garbage and recycling was left out Monday in Carlton on Lakeside Park Road but still hadn’t been picked up this morning.
Modern officials said their evaluation was fair about the safety of sending their trucks down the fire lanes. However, the company was “abrupt” in implementing the plan and didn’t allow enough time for the communities to review the plan and communicate the changes to residents, Joseph Hickman, strategic/municipal sales manager for Modern, said in an email to county officials today.
“In order to provide these community the required time to review, discuss and inform residents, we are suspending service changes and resuming normal collection,” Hickman wrote in the message.
Ashbery said Modern will likely be putting dumpsters for residents on those three streets to leave their garbage. The company is working on how to handle pickup on those three streets during the winter months.
The company said it would go back through Carlton today and Thursday to grab the garbage and recycling that was put out for Monday.
Vincent DeWind is one of the homeowners on the seasonal Park Road. He acknowledged it’s tough terrain for the garbage trucks.
“It’s very tricky backing up for them,” he said.
He faulted the local government and Modern for not communicating with residents about the changes.
He worries now that garbage could pile up at the collection spots, and could be a big cleanup effort if the trash blows around. He also said it will take much more effort for the residents to take it to the collection spots, especially for the senior citizens.
