For Cincinnati residents dealing with weeks of missed trash pickups, the frustration has become more than a simple inconvenience. Overflowing bins and curbside piles are leaving neighborhood streets foul-smelling and neglected, prompting residents to ask how such a basic city service could break down for so long.
Here's what to know
According to the city of Cincinnati, several Public Service Department employees were out sick for several days, contributing to ongoing trash pickup delays in multiple neighborhoods. WCPO reported that Doris Klaene said her trash and yard waste were left on her curb for about two weeks.
The Westwood resident said the accumulation has been upsetting because it has changed the neighborhood's appearance.
"It makes our neighborhood look terrible," Klaene said.
She said the extended delay is also hurting the lawn where the trash has been left sitting. "When it sits on the grass like this, it kills the grass underneath it," she said.
John Hamlet said Fenton Avenue saw the same kind of problem, with trash bins left overflowing before pickup finally happened.
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"It's disgusting," Hamlet said. "Anywhere you drive within the limits of Westwood, the whole neighborhood just smells like trash."
More background
By residents' accounts, the missed pickups were not a one-time problem but an issue that dragged on for weeks.
Hamlet acknowledged that sanitation workers "do a really good job" under normal circumstances but said they are "either understaffed or underpaid."
What's being done?
While WCPO was in the neighborhood, pickup crews finally reached Hamlet's street.
Klaene and Hamlet said clearing the current backlog is not enough; they want the city to determine how to keep the same situation from happening again.
Hamlet said the situation remained serious even as collection resumed: "It's a health issue, really."
Where can I learn more?
Residents elsewhere have dealt with similar complaints about trash, odors, and waste management.
• In New York City, trash piles up on streets as officials defend sanitation crews.
• In Kinloch, Missouri, decades of illegal dumping left residents watching the mess grow.
• In Hudson Falls, New York, residents said neighborhood garbage plant odors raised serious health concerns.
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