Miami Student

Issue date: 8/28/07 Section: Community

After the back-to-school move in for Miami students, the city gained approximately 40 tons of solid waste and recycling between Aug. 16 and Aug 20.

As Miami University students moved back to Oxford for the start of the school year, some residents, students and property managers complained about an abundance of refuse, particularly recycled trash, that Rumpke was unable to pick up.

With the large number of students returning to Oxford, the city gained an estimated additional 40 tons of solid waste and recycling from Aug. 16 through the week of Aug. 20, said David Treleaven, an environmental specialist with the city.

"On the whole, move in and move out are very difficult with this volume of stuff," said Oxford Vice Mayor Prue Dana.

According to Treleaven, Oxford normally acquires around 130 tons of solid waste and recycling a week. He said move-in week increases refuse by about 35 percent, and the numbers may be even higher for move-out week at the end of the school year.

Treleaven said to counter this problem each year, Oxford offers additional move-in refuse, or garbage, collection to the Mile Square area, between Chestnut Street, Sycamore Street, Patterson Avenue and Locust Street. This collection is unlimited, meaning that during that time Oxford does away with one time per week residential collection and the 10-container limit per residential account that is set during the rest of the year. He said the additional service is offered only to residential properties and not to commercial properties.

The main issues this year with trash pickup came from off-street parking extending to alleys and vehicles blocking one-way alleys while students were moving in, said Treleaven. In addition, Treleaven noted there was a lot of dumpster overflow that prevented Rumpke vehicles from lifting dumpsters to trucks for emptying.

"Cars were improperly parked, and that blocked trucks from getting down alleyways," Treleaven said. "The only full street that was affected was Heather Lane, a one-way street off of Spring Street."

Treleaven recognizes that students may not yet be informed of their schedule or city requirements for trash pickup, but he notes that residents must be aware that a missed dumpster pickup as the result of an overflow is a residential issue and not the responsibility of Rumpke to clean up.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools