Pay Attention Billings: How You Dispose of Your Trash Is Changing
Earlier in the week, I ran across a memo from Billings Public Works, Solid Waste Division. They have made some changes on what they will and won't pick up. And also when they will.
If you have nothing better to do, feel free to look up City Code 21-205. In this, you will learn what is and is not classified as yard rubbish, how long the bundles must be, and (spoiler alert) your bundles can't weigh more than 75 pounds.
From what I understand, this division is having trouble keeping employees, just like every other business in town. So, they had to streamline how they do things a little bit.
You know whose problem this used to be? People who owned pickups.
Oh, a little-known fact that is hidden deep in the paperwork that you sign at the dealership, is a clause where you consent to being the garbage truck for your neighborhood. The clause below then explains that you will now help everybody who doesn't own a pickup when it's time for them to move. Don't bother to check. I was pre-law, so I know.
If, in addition to owning a pickup, you also have a 4-wheeler/car/horse trailer, you get moved to the top of the "get called first" list.
The phone call used to sound like this. "Hey, Wilson, I got a mattress and some bushes that I pulled out that need to go to the dump. Have you got anything that you need to take? Perfect. Let's load her all up Saturday morning, go to the dump then hit Fuddruckers."
My solution would be to put giant dumpsters all over town so that people wouldn't have so far to go when they needed to get rid of stuff. This would also reduce people randomly dumping their trash along some roadside just outside the city limits.
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