Recyclables pile up for Republic Services customers
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — City residents paying Republic Services for the pickup of recyclables may have to wait a while for the truck to come.
One customer on the near northside, Katherine Carlton-Robinson, said, “It was supposed to be picked up last Friday, and they let us know that was not going to happen and it would be indefinite delay.”
The trash was finally picked up at Carlton-Robinson’s home, but not the recycling. “That is a Republic trash can over there. That trash can was absolutely overflowing until maybe last night. It finally got picked up it looks like.”
She added, “They said at first just a week, and now they say they are not sure when it is going to happen. We just haven’t had any pickup of our recycles in the past week, and we have also had issues previous to that with them not picking up cardboard boxes that have been broken down and that sort of thing, just incomplete pickups.”
The News 8 drone surveyed parts of downtown and found recycling bins that appear to have been neglected for weeks.
According to the Indianapolis Department of Public Works, the highest number of complaints in the first two weeks of August have come from the area just north of downtown, with 279 calls, and the far east side of Marion County with 468. Both areas typically average between 11 to 20 calls a week.
Public Works says the recycling issues are between Republic and its customer.
Republic told News 8 it’s having problems, but didn’t say when recycling pickup would resume, or if customers would see reductions in their monthly bills.
“We have experienced some temporary collection delays in the past few weeks due to staffing challenges, supply chain issues and the continued increase in solid waste volume.”
Republic Services in a statement sent to News 8