No trash pick up

Written by Peter Gailunas

First, just let me say that I love trash day.  It’s my favorite day of the week.  There is something about getting rid of massive amounts of garbage and recycling that puts a spring in my step.  I refer to it at home as “rubbish day” and I love asking my family, “Do you know what tomorrow is?” as if it were a day something special or unexpected is going to occur.  When they shake their heads no, I quickly inform them, that it’s rubbish day and they roll their eyes!  So I know the drill when it comes to trash. I’m sort of an expert.   I know not to put my trash out until the morning of (not the night before) to avoid the can collectors demolishing it.  I know the trash men usually roll down M Street around 8am.  So when Tuesday came and went, I was surprised that my trash did not.  
 
I was under the impression that the City of Boston eliminated Monday trash pick up days to avoid the inevitable push back in the week whenever a holiday landed on a Monday.  My trash day use to be Monday and then got changed permanently to Tuesday to avoid people putting trash out a day early on a holiday Monday.  I know it can be very confusing to people to remember that when it’s Columbus Day, don’t put your trash out, but not as confusing as it was yesterday – Tuesday, December 27th – when I put my trash out and there it sat all day long.  I thought, “Maybe they are just running late with all the trash from Christmas to be picked up.”  (By the way, the trash day that immediately follows Christmas is my ultimate favorite trash day of the year.  I live for it!)
 
So the trash was never picked up Tuesday and while I slept and the winds whipped and the rain fell, I awoke on Wednesday morning to find my neighborhood a disaster area.  Trash bags were splayed out in the middle of the street, sticking out from under cars, or nestled in nooks of houses.  Recycling bins tipped over and packing peanuts from gifts of Christmas past formed snow droves along the sidewalk while wrapping paper was strewned about all tattered and torn.  
 
How did I not know that the City was pushing back the trash pick up by a day?  Why did they not send out a mailer, or paper cars, or alert the press.  I checked out the City’s website this morning to get to the bottom of it and there it was in small red box, “City Holiday – Monday, December 26th
Trash/Recycling collection will be one day late for all neighborhoods (including Boston Proper & Roxbury) for the remainder of the week.”  What’s up with that?
 
Okay, my first question, why does this holiday differ from all the others during the year that fall on a Monday?  And if the City was celebrating Christmas on Monday, why the heck were they not back on the road picking up trash on Tuesday?   Regardless, I think the City could have done a much better job in letting us know.  And it wasn’t just me that made the mistake of putting the trash out on Tuesday.  It was everyone in my neighborhood and it has caused a ripple effect.  My father put his trash out today but his trash won’t be picked up until tomorrow.  It was a fool’s errand – wasted time.  So with this in mind, if your trash day is normally Thursday, save yourself the aggravation and put it out on Friday.