Tulsa trash carts arriving as service problems continue

Halfway through the second week of Tulsa's new (interim) trash service, problems with pick-up continue to pop up.

The good news, though, is that trash and recycling carts are starting to come in, and delivery to Tulsa homes will begin next week.

More than 15,000 carts have been delivered to and assembled at the west Tulsa headquarters of new trash contractor NeW Solutions. Another 230,000 will be coming in over the next several weeks.

The first batch are scheduled to be delivered starting Monday.

But plenty of Tulsans are still not happy with how things have started under the new trash service.

"They don't seem to know what they're doing," Tulsan Tricia Shelton said. "[It's like they're] confused."

Shelton's trash was supposed to be picked up from her east Tulsa home last Tuesday. But Tuesday came and went. And after animals tore through the bags the trash covered not only corners, but the entire neighborhood.

"Everything was just scattered and a mess," she said.

She called the City of Tulsa to complain, and was promised her trash would be picked up by Friday if she left it out. Once again, Friday came and went, and still her trash remained on the corner, a constant target for area animals.

Shelton called the city again, and was told somebody would be there on Monday to get her trash.

Finally, on Tuesday, her normally pick-up day and two weeks after her last trash pick-up, Shelton's trash was hauled away.

"[I was] frustrated," she said. "Very frustrated."

But not everyone is quite so down on the new service.

"We think it's been going pretty well, actually," Eric Lee, Solid Waste Services Manager for the City of Tulsa, said.

Lee said he expected some growing pains when the new service launched.

"We initiated 1,000 service orders last week," Lee said. "Approximately 600 were backyard service."

The problem was the haulers driving the new routes didn't always know which houses had signed up for backyard service. So, crews have been going around town and spray painting a white mark on the curb of all the homes signed up for backyard service. Lee expects that to solve the problem.

Jason Kannady, President of NeW Solutions, said his company is doing all it can to address issues, but asked for patience from customers.

"We're seeing a little bit of improvement this week over last week," Kannady said. "And I expect next week will be even better."

"Obviously, if we've had 1,000 complaints that means there's 93,000 customers that haven't complained," Lee said.

But Shelton said she can't be the only frustrated Tulsan.

"I knew this entire area hadn't gotten their trash picked up, and no one called," she said. "So, I'm sure if this is my neighborhood and no one called, there's plenty more that no one called."

She just hopes next Tuesday her trash isn't left sitting at the curb again.

The first batch of carts will go out for delivery starting Monday. Over the next two weeks all of the homes in west Tulsa, and all of the homes included in the area from Admiral up to 56th St. North, and Yale to 145th E. Ave will get their carts.

The City of Tulsa is expected to release a map by Friday, that breaks down the schedule for when all other neighborhoods will get carts.