Why Didn't You Empty My Garbage Can?

Garbage, recycling, and garden waste is picked up in Cloverdale on Fridays. Unless there is a stat holiday during the week and then its picked up one day later - on Saturday.

The company who has the Surrey contract for waste management is Emterra.

We live on a corner lot and have 2 driveways. I put my garbage can, recycle bin, and garden waste on one driveway and my tenant puts her garbage can and recycle bin on the other driveway. No need for garden waste on that driveway because I put all the garden waste on my driveway.

Yesterday - Friday July 1 - my tenant put her garbage and recycle out a day early. I called down to her and reminded her it was a stat and the garbagemen weren't picking up until Saturday. Oh well. At least she wasn't the only one in the neighborhood forgetting the stat and putting out a day ahead.

This morning - Saturday July 2 - I put my garbage can, my recycle bin, and 2 garden waste bins on my driveway which is a side street. No exit road, about 15 houses down there.

Our recycling is always picked up first, then the garbage, and usually the garden waste doesn't get picked up until later in the afternoon. They have odd routes. They seem to go down one side of the road collecting and then the other side, and they go off the side strees as they come to them.

When I came back from walking the dogs I saw the garbage truck. In fact they were blocking the roadway picking up the garbage from the house across the street. They had about 6 garbage bags and garbage cans. A little excessive. I believe each house is allowed 2. No matter. The garbageman took them all and then went down the side street.

We went out then and were gone for several hours. By the time I got home clearly the entire neighborhood's garbage and recycling were done but the garden waste hadn't picked up yet. I grabbed my empty garbage can and recycle box and put them away and then went to get my tentant's. To my surprise the garbage can was still full. What's going on? The can was at the curb where it always is and nothing obstructed it. The recycle box had been emptied.

So I looked up the city of Surrey's website because I know there's a number you can call if your waste hasn't been picked up.

Here's the web page with the information.

Basically it says to call their hotline 604-590-7289 to report the problem but its not open on stat holidays. To further aggravate the problem it says if you don't report the missed collection within 24 hours you might be out of luck for getting the garbage rescheduled.

OK. I might not be good at math but seeing as how today - Saturday - was the scheduled pick up day and the city is closed on Sunday I won't be able to report the problem until Monday which puts me outside the 24 hour range. To make matters worse after sticking around on the phone long enough and listening to all their menu options, there is no option to leave a message on the answering machine.

I was forced to take the other option at filling out their online form for complaints so I did that.

I got an auto responder back on my email saying the problem could take up to 10 days to resolve.

Hunh? This is our tax dollars at work! And by the way, speaking of taxes they are due at city hall on Monday July 4. A 10 day response period is unacceptable. I would think most companies or government agencies should strive for a 4 hour response time or at the most 24 hours. Unacceptable!

10 days indeed! Our next scheduled pick up is next Friday - 6 days away. The problem will have hopefully resolved itself. In the meantime my yard looks slummy with a garbage can outside.

I will also phone in on Monday to city hall to let them know my garbage can is still sitting out at the curb. I will also try to find out what resolutions they have for Cloverdale residents whose collection is missed on Saturdays. It would seem logical that they would have a phone number on their website for Emterra where residents could call directly and say what's going on? My can was at the curb well in advance - and yes I think a day ahead of scheduled pick up is sufficient! - and your staff drove right past it. Well, I have to admit I did not see them drive right past it. I didn't see them at all other than picking up the across the street bags and cans and then go down the side street.

This is the first time we've had a missed collection other than a couple of years ago when Surrey switched to Emterra on January 1 and it took about 3 weeks for them to get all the garbage collected.

I'll post an update after I've spoken with the city staff.