Trash troubles take over in one Lansing neighborhood - WILX

Trash troubles take over in one Lansing neighborhood

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Residents on Lansing’s west side say their trash bins haven’t been emptied in almost a month.

Bags of trash piled higher with each passing week on West Lapeer Street. People who live on the block said it’s been an unpleasant sight, and smell. While city-owned trash bins have been emptied, neighbors said private service trash bins haven’t been touched.

“They didn’t want to pick up the trash because there’s a lot of construction, there’s a lot of holes in the ground and stuff,” said resident Keiasia Eskin. “It’s irritating. My mom said, dang, they still haven’t picked it up?”

Eskin said her home is serviced by Waste Management. On Friday, there were about 10 bags sitting outside her bin, not counting the bags inside.

Just down the street from Eskin, community member Bambi Burnham has also been dealing with a trash pile-up. She said when city construction began, that’s about when Granger stopped emptying her bin.

“So the construction workers have been out here since, I don’t know, I’ve lost track of the time, to redo the road, and they are so friendly and so kind, but for the last three to four weeks our garbage has not been picked up,” she said.

News 10 reached out to Granger Friday afternoon. Although we did not receive a response, Burnham said they arrived to take care of her trash about a half hour later.

She said she made previous calls to Granger herself, asking for other pick-up options. While they did offer a free drop-off to their facility, Burnham said it likely would have required a truck rental.

“They very kindly offered to allow me to bring my garbage to their facility,” she said. “And I asked, if I’m going to rent a truck, I’m going to do it for the whole block, but they couldn’t commit to giving the whole block that option.”

In a statement to News 10, a spokesperson for Waste Management said the company does not service the entirety of West Lapeer Street. They said while construction has made West Lapeer Street difficult to enter, “WM will continue to work to ensure that all WM-subscribed customers are serviced safely in a timely manner.”

They also recommended that customers activate their online WM account to view pickup and holiday schedules, manage their service, report service interruptions, and enroll in AutoPay and Paperless Billing.

The city of Lansing’s Department of Public Safety said it’s also looking into the missed private service pickups in the neighborhood.

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