Residents across Erie County are frustrated with the delays of getting their trash removed.
After weeks of delays, Millcreek residents finally got their trash picked up on Monday. According to officials with Millcreek Township, they are all caught up with their pick-ups.
Ryan Adams, a Millcreek resident said, "The township was extremely helpful in helping navigate that. But typically in the past we have gotten a call or an email saying there would be a delay but at this time I didn't get any of that."
Adams said over the past few weeks, he's gotten very little updates from his trash collector, Waste Management, about when his trash would get picked up.
"We just didn't get a lot of communication from Waste Management indicating when trash was going to get picked up, which led to a lot of trash cans being left out in front of the property which made it inconvenient for people to get down the street and blowing trash and things like that", explained Adams.
He's relieved his trash cans are now empty and hopes for better communication in the future. "We can set expectations of when to expect our services. Delays happen, totally understand. But when it comes to, just letting us know so we can prepare appropriately", said Adams.
It's not just Millcreek residents who are frustrated, people in North East are experiencing the same issues, weeks without their trash getting picked up.
Jennifer Degrosky is tired of waiting for her trash to get picked up. "It's frustrating. It really is, because you don't want to put it in your garage, because your garage smells like a pig pen and then you have to sludge it in your shed and then you sludge it out", said Degrosky.
After also having issues with Waste Management for weeks she decided to go with a different trash removal service. She hopes Waste Management communicates better with their customers in the future. As Degrosky explained, "If you have a problem, if there are no drivers, if there's no truck, tell the people, so you can refund their money and they can go elsewhere."
Millcreek Township officials also said if a resident still hasn't had their trash picked up, they can reach out to wm.com or call 814-833-1111 extension 133 for more help.
Erie News Now did reach out to Waste Management for a comment and they wrote: "As residents know, WM has experienced service delays throughout the area due to the back-to-back winter weather events that hit the Erie region. Our team members are working to recover all material left at the curb. The overflow of material, along with the weight of the snow, has created heavier loads for our teams, resulting in additional trips to the landfill. We also have called in additional drivers from surrounding hauling sites to help us recover material. We are recovering material as quickly as possible but are still working through some of these challenges. We ask customers to visit www.wm.com for their updated service information. We appreciate the patience and cooperation from residents and communities."