ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Overflowing trash cans, heaps of garbage sacks sitting atop dumpsters and curbside bins filled to the brim remain common scenes throughout the St. Louis area as residents and trash companies continue to dig out of snow and ice nearly two weeks after the region’s severe winter storm.
Complaints about trash service — or the lack thereof — have come from communities across the metro region, as residents lamented to one another on social media about the accumulating piles of trash.
St. Louis City Comptroller Darlene Green sent a letter to St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones on Thursday, urging her to hire local contractors to clear side streets ahead of the next winter storm. The letter comes a day after Jones posted a video on social media, acknowledging that the city’s response to the storm has been “frustrating.”
“This storm dropped amounts of snow and ice on the city of St. Louis, and the freezing temperatures have created ice sheets that have made our streets difficult to maneuver,” Jones said.
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The storm arrived Sunday night, Jan. 5, first laying a base of ice and sleet on area roadways. The snow came Monday, dumping anywhere from several inches to over a foot on the St. Louis region. The ice and snow together snarled roadways and shut down schools, businesses and government offices.
Conner Kerrigan, a spokesperson for Jones, said Wednesday afternoon that the city had been following its usual procedures for snow clearance: Plows focus on major streets and key secondary roads, and largely avoid the side streets, where many city residents park their cars, and wide plows could damage cars or snow them in.
But he said it’s now clear more must be done. He said the city on Wednesday began deploying smaller trucks to salt narrower streets.
St. Louis isn’t alone in grappling with how to clear roads for essential services like trash pick-up.
Washington City Administrator Darren Lamb said trash service was delayed by the winter weather and some alleyways being “a challenge due to them not being treated and bladed immediately.” Washington, a city of about 15,000 people, is located about 45 miles west of St. Louis.
Lamb said Thursday that trash service had resumed normal operations after the city’s contracted trash service provider, Waste Connections, had crews working “two full days to catch back up.”
In Wildwood, City Administrator Thomas Lee said the city’s two contracted trash providers were also delayed because of the storm.
Republic Services, which provides trash pick-up for about 85% of Wildwood’s residents, was delayed all last week, he said. But they had crews working on Saturday and have gone “back to standard operating schedules,” Lee said.
The city’s other provider, Gateway Disposal, still had some “pockets” where service has been disrupted by ice-covered roadways.
Republic Services also has contracts with several other cities including Ballwin, Manchester, Clayton and St. Charles. Company spokesperson Melissa Quillard said, “While collection has resumed for most, some areas are still too icy and unsafe to operate our vehicles.”
She said the company has resumed collection for 98% of its customers, but acknowledged that there are a “few hundred households that we are still unable to service.”
“We are sending trucks out every day to safely reach as many as we can, and we will resume service to all impacted areas when the roads are safe,” she said.
Jonathan Stepp, a spokesperson for Waste Management of Missouri, said the weather and ice-covered roads have caused “unavoidable delays.”
“Our teams are working diligently to navigate these conditions and resume normal services as quickly and safely as possible,” he said.
Austin Huguelet and Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
