(Washington, DC) Most residents in the District’s “Old City” neighborhoods – those who have twice-weekly trash collection, such as Capitol Hill, Shaw, Logan Circle and others – have probably already received two matching mobile carts from DPW, a blue one for recyclable materials and a green one for trash. Now that the carts have arrived, many residents in these neighborhoods want to dispose of their old refuse containers. To help in that effort, DPW will be picking up the old round Clean City cans and the short, boxy recycling bins curbside on Wednesday, August 31.
“Most folks in these small sections of Wards 1, 2 and 6 live in row houses with no yards. They just don’t have room to store multiple types of cans, carts and bins,” said DPW Director William O. Howland, Jr. “So, we are scheduling a special collection day for the old trash and recycling containers in those areas.”
To Have Your Old Clean City Cans and/or Recycling Bins Collected: Residents in the areas that 1) have twice-weekly trash collection AND 2) have received both the green and blue carts, may set out their old Clean City can and recycling bin AT THE CURB on Tuesday night, August 30. The cans and bins should be empty and turned upside down.
Customers who wish to return one or both of their new carts and keep using their old containers must wait a little longer for the carts to be picked up. A collection date will be announced in mid-September.
Not all DPW customers have received wheeled carts. The carts replace the old containers in all but a few small neighborhoods where space is so tight that residents have told DPW that they cannot accommodate the carts. Those residents will not receive carts, but will continue to use the Clean City cans and the recycling bins.
DPW customers in the so-called outer ring of the city – those having trash collection once per week via Supercan – have received new recycling carts only. They will continue to use the full-size Supercan.
Residents should put bagged trash into the new green carts and Supercans just as they have always done. However, there is a change in the recycling program. Now all recyclable materials, from mail to metal cans can simply be dumped loose into the blue cart or the recycling bin. This is called “single-stream recycling.” Customers will no longer have to keep paper and other recyclables separated. Single-stream recycling works whether you have a cart or a bin.
DPW’s Solid Waste Management Administration and its Labor Management Partner, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), Local 2091, spent a year studying the current recycling collection system, as well as several alternatives before developing the single-stream recycling program.
