Birmingham distributing 20,000 more uniform trash bins

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - There are 20,000 new uniform trash cans being distributed right now across the city of Birmingham.

The new bins are a part of the city’s $7 million dollar project to give 100,000 homes new trash cans. This is phase two of the rollout. The city already distributed 20,000 new uniform trash cans at the end of last year, but right now, they’re putting 5,000 cans each on the north and south sides of Birmingham.

Director of Public Works Josh Yates said crews will put 10,000 more new cans on the west and east sides of town next, that way the bins are being evenly distributed.

“We’re evenly distributing them,” Yates said. “All four districts are getting 5,000 units a piece.”

For residents with new cans, pickup will now only be once a week. Yates said it’s going to take about five phases to cover the whole city. They expect to get the next set of cans this summer.

“Phase three we’re looking at sometime late summer,” Yates said. “Phase three will put us at just about a cart for every resident across the city.”

He said they have to distribute the cans in phases because they only have six trucks that are compatible with the new cans right now.

“As we are getting new equipment in, we are able to distribute more carts,” Yates said. “The equipment is really the key factor in moving forward. We are able to retrofit some of our old equipment, but it still requires manual operation even under retrofitted conditions.”

Yates said if you get a new cart during this phase, you will be mailed information about the new garbage system and you will get a letter from Public Works with your new garbage pickup day and the start date.

Click here to learn more about phase two of the rollout.

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