West Valley Collection and Recycling

As you may have heard, as of March there's a new waste and recycling collector for Campbell, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, and Saratoga. West Valley Collection and Recycling is in and Greed Valley is out. Their website alludes to some "hiccups" on their first day of service.

Assuming our collection day remained the same, we certainly had a little hiccup here in my area of the Campbell San Tomas Neighborhood. It's 3pm and we haven't seen a garbage truck yet. I went for a run around noon and there seemed to be a lot of untouched garbage carts hanging out on the curb. I tried calling West Valley Collection, but got no answer and they don't seem to believe in answering machines. Their website isn't of any help either.

Huh? Anyone know what's going on with the new folks at West Valley Collection and Recycling?

I think our streets are on different schedules, Sheldon. And I don't think that the collection schedule is the same. Ours has definitley changed.

Our street basically got screwed. Our old collection date was Friday (so we set it out Thursday night.) Of course, the West Valley took over on Thursday so most of my neighbors set their trash cans out, and some of them are still sitting out. Our new collection day is Wednesday, essentially a week later - so we got skipped a week. Plus I don't understand why Green Valley took the old recycling bins that we set out, even though they said we could keep the bins, and the press release you linked above states we can also keep the bins. Plus I also don't think everyone has noticed that you can't overfill any of the bins. If the lid is not closed, I do not think they will take your trash/recyclables. Does anyone know how much service will cost?

This post has been edited by mobyfan on Mar 6 2007, 04:07 PM

Hmmm... They didn't do a good job of letting my route know what day trash day is. Everyone's got their trash bins out.

BTW, I'm amused by the wording in their March 2nd press release.

QUOTE

As with the beginning of any new enterprise, there were some hiccups on the first day of service. But thanks to extensive pre-planning on the part of West Valley and the four cities, problems were minimized. Route supervisors provided roaming oversight of each route and a command center was set up in the main office to track the regular progress reports provided by drivers and supervisors

I like the mention of them setting up a command center to provide route oversight after there were some "hiccups." Reading between the lines, I would guess that they could have just said, "Our drivers got lost."

O.k., I called our neighbor, who obviously got the memo that we didn't read or didn't receive. Our trash and recycling pickup is Wednesday morning, too. They must be doing entire neighborhoods all at once now.

In short, folks: ask all your neighbors, because someone is ound to have been paying attention!

They sent us a postcard with a calendar of pickup dates. But our mail service hasn't been 100% accurate lately so maybe yours got lost. I often get mail for someone else, and often get mailed delivered that had previously been delivered to the wrong address.

Argh. The usual postal carrier for the route you and I share is really reliable - she lives in our neighborhood. I bet someone else is filling in for her recently, or her route has been changed.

I did receive a postcard, informing me on a change in the collection day (From Thursday to Wednesday). So I set out my bins yesterday night, and they were still full this morning when I left at 8am. But they were empty by 6PM when I came back...

On the other end, they did not pickup the old bins I had left next to the large blue bin...

I also notice then did not pick up the neighbors stuff that was in the old bins either...

Vincent

QUOTE (vlefevre @ Mar 6 2007, 11:01 PM)

I did receive a postcard, informing me on a change in the collection day (From Thursday to Wednesday). So I set out my bins yesterday night, and they were still full this morning when I left at 8am. But they were empty by 6PM when I came back... On the other end, they did not pickup the old bins I had left next to the large blue bin... I also notice then did not pick up the neighbors stuff that was in the old bins either... Vincent

Today is Tuesday (or it was.) They are supposed to recycle the old bins if you don't want them, but you can't put recyclables in them anymore. The new trucks are designed for the new bins. I still don't understand why they said we can keep the old bins if we wanted them -- but then they collected all of them on our last collection day. What were we supposed to use for our last recycling? I still have 2 of the old bins because I only set out 1 bin for paper. But I wanted to keep all 3 bins.

Our old day was Thursday, So March 1 was to be the day Thursday day one. I got a letter that said we had been informed of a new collection day (no we hadn't) and that we would miss a week. I called and was told the day collection day would stay the same By Thursday Mar 1 we hadn't got our new cans. Everyone put out the old cans and recycle bins, only no pick up. I called the number on the letter only to have a busy signal for hours. So, I called the City Manager's office, and got a good number for the company. Customer Service was no help. They said our day was the same as it was, and we couldn't use the old cans or bins. Somebody must have gotten a notice, because I noticed the new cans out for pick up on Monday night. Lo and behold Tuesday night the cans are empty. I put my old recycle bins out for pick up and they were left where they were.

I don't want to hold my old bins captive any longer. They want to be free. Anybody want 5 of the old bins? 3 red ones, a blue and a green. I have an old garbage can too, Anyone know how we can get rid of those, short of putting in the new can or taking it to the dump?

Oh man, don't throw away those old recycling bins! I'm sure people will want them. Mine didn't get taken away, and I've been using them for gardening - they're really handy when you're pulling weeds!

If you wash them out, you can use them for all sorts of storage purposes in the garage.

Maybe we should post a new thread for people who have them and want to get rid of them, and folks who don't have them and want them! That way, you can swap!

O.k., the recycling bin swap is now posted! Go for it:
http://www.socialwave.net/topics/3121/

QUOTE (andy @ Mar 7 2007, 07:50 AM)

I have an old garbage can too, Anyone know how we can get rid of those, short of putting in the new can or taking it to the dump?

West Valley's press release says you can recycle your old garbage can in April. But I'm sure someone else could use it.

If you have a metal or plastic garbage can that you purchased on your own, please do not use it at the curb any longer. You may use it for storage or around the house if you wish. In April you will receive a sticker from West Valley that says “Recycle Me” – if you do not want to keep your can, put a sticker on it and set it out at the curb for recycling.

I got plenty of notice. My day didn't change, so no problem there. I just dumped my recycling into the new recycle cart and my trash into the other and it was emptied mid-day. No big deal ... they'll have everyone trained in no time.

I'm using my old bins & cans for collecting CA Cash Refund bottles, so they're getting good use.

The only downside for me is figuring out how to put bigger cardboard into little recycle cart without a lot of work...

This post has been edited by Whraven on Mar 7 2007, 02:58 PM

QUOTE (ArsNova @ Mar 6 2007, 10:32 PM)

Argh. The usual postal carrier for the route you and I share is really reliable - she lives in our neighborhood. I bet someone else is filling in for her recently, or her route has been changed.

I thought Mark was our regular carrier. He seemed to be pretty good. But I haven't seen him in quite awhile. When I do see them, the carriers seem to be random.

QUOTE (Whraven @ Mar 7 2007, 01:57 PM)

The only downside for me is figuring out how to put bigger cardboard into little recycle cart without a lot of work...

Why didn't you ask for one of the larger recycle containers? We got one the size of the yard waste bins and everything reasonable we throw in it disappears down a bottomless pit.

Normally we don't put a lot out and I figured the small cart would be plenty. And it will be. I just didn't plan for the cardboard which I got used to collecting in a pile in the garage and using twine on in the old 3 ft by 3 ft format once a month or so. With a bit of retraining and box cutting I should be able to adjust...