Yard waste piling up at your home? Here’s why Columbia is taking longer to pick it up
High numbers of open positions combined with a heavy leaf season have created “a perfect storm” for the city of Columbia’s solid waste department, which has fallen behind on yard waste and bulk trash pickup amid an unprecedented season.
“It’s it’s been a very challenging year, especially during this time of year,” department head Robert Anderson explained. “One week it took 60 hours to run a 10-hour route.”
Anderson said it makes sense if residents are seeing more leaf piles or pieces of furniture on the curb. Someone who normally sees their yard waste collected on a Friday now might not see a crew come by until the middle of the next week. The delays will eventually affect every neighborhood in the city because the trash is collected on a rotation, Anderson said.
The length of delay will vary, in part depending on how often and how many residents are raking their leaves at the same time.
One main culprit for the problem is the 30% employment gap in the city’s public works department. Anderson said he currently has 35 vacancies on a would-be staff of 115. Typically, the department would have a 9-10% staff vacancy rate. Fewer employees means less equipment on the streets running collection routes.
Recruiting new employees has been difficult, Anderson acknowledged — a problem employers have lamented nationwide. The city plans to tap more online resources such as Indeed and ZipRecruiter and is also working to organize a job fair.
But on top of being understaffed, crews are picking up dramatically heavier loads of yard waste.
On a typical Thursday route during the summer, workers would collect an average of about 110 tons of yard waste a month. Last month, a single monthly Thursday route collected more than 630 tons, according to Anderson. And that’s just one of four routes.
The city braces for “leaf season” every year, Anderson said. But this year it has been particularly brutal. Not only did a bulk of leaves fall at the same time in late October, but good weather through November and December meant more people were raking leaves to the curb at the same time.
The influx wouldn’t be as much of a headache if the city had the bodies to collect it all.
“We’re generally used to having the employee staff to work the six days a week, 10 hours a day ... and accomplish what we generally accomplish in a week,” Anderson said.
Columbia isn’t the only local government struggling to keep up with the falling leaves. Richland County Waste Management on Thursday announced that yard waste pickup is two to three days behind schedule, with 20% of employees “impacted by the virus,” according to a release.
Anderson said the city’s delays in collecting leaves and other yard debris won’t damage other city resources. “It’s mostly aesthetics,” he said, adding while leaves have caused problems for yard waste pickup, the city’s standard roll-cart garbage and recycling collection has remained on schedule.
To check where yard waste crews are in their routes, call the city’s sanitation number at (803) 545-3800. To view all open positions with the city of Columbia, visit hr.columbiasc.gov/employment.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 2:10 PM.
