GREENSBORO, N.C. — The city of Greensboro will start charging a $25 fee for trash and recycling containers that are left at the curb in violation of the 7-7-7 rule:
- Place your containers at the curb after 7 p.m. the night before your service day.
- All containers should be at the curb by 7 a.m. on your service day.
- All containers should be removed from the curb by 7 p.m. on your service day.
It's got a lot of residents asking questions about the rules. Some are wondering, what about elderly who have trouble rolling back their bins? Or people who work second or third shift?
"Some of us are older and if having a bad day can not get the cans in til maybe the next day," one person said on the City of Greensboro's Facebook post about the rule.
"And for people who get home after 7pm on service day?" Another commenter wondered.
Others think the fee needs to be enforced.
"Good! Now I can actually walk and bike down my street without dodging garbage cans that never move! I hope they enforce it!" One man said.
Tuesday is trash pickup day for Greensboro resident Mary Diaz. She said the new rule won't really impact her, but she understands why some people are for it and why others are not.
"Trash, I love trash collection otherwise we would be living in a cesspool," Diaz said. "I don't really see anything wrong with having rules around it, but really, I would like to see the rule of, let's just not worry about getting the trash cans in, let's worry about getting the trash off the streets."
Other Greensboro residents like Gary Palmer share they are more worried about their schedules. Palmer said his trash pickup day is on a Friday.
"When I go to see my grandkids in Boone or Richmond for that weekend, I'm not going to be back on Saturday morning or Friday night to pick it up and bring it back to the house," Palmer said. "That's not frequently, but at the time what do I do."
Chris Marriott with the City of Greensboro said this isn't a new ordinance, it is just a new way of enforcing it.
"There is leeway," Marriott said. Nobody is going to be out policing at 7:01 in neighborhoods. It would be the next day the earliest and we are totally understanding of it."
The city said the rule was put in place for safety and aesthetic reasons.
Residents will be warned for the first violation and charged a $25 fee each time city crews have to roll their carts from the curb.
The rule was approved at Tuesday's City Council meeting.
They also approved other changes to the solid waste ordinance including:
- A $250 fee per truckload if the city has to collect bulk trash items that don't adhere to collection rules
- A $1 increase to the residential solid waste fee to $3.50 per month
- A $.37 increase in the household hazardous waste fee to $.97 per month
- A $15 increase in commercial recycling fees