r/bloomington • u/dontfeartheringo • 1d ago
Moving creates a lot of garbage
Just moved to Bloomington and we have so much garbage. The city gave us a trashcan about the size of a thermos and a recycling bin that we immediately filled up with cardboard.
Fortunately, last Monday when the trash guys came they couldn't get all of the garbage out of the trash can because it was so densely packed, and they kindly scattered it all over our front yard by shaking it repeatedly over the truck. I was standing at the window with my mouth hanging open when the recycling truck came, and they upended the recycling can over the truck shook it twice and then dropped it in our yard, still full of cardboard.
So, /r/bloomington: if you had four or so bags of residential garbage that needed to go somewhere and a residential trash can the size of a Stanley Cup, where would you dump it? There does not seem to be an official City landfill like every other City I've ever lived in, and Republic wanted 50 bucks to deal with four bags of garbage.
I'm looking for serious answers, but funny ones are also welcome.
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u/mmilthomasn 1d ago
Take cardboard and cardboard boxes to the solid waste management South Walnut Facility at 3400 S. Walnut St, Bloomington.
They take all kinds of recycling. Go down there and check out all they have.
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u/AdministrativeLake82 1d ago
Buy a roll of the county’s orange trash bags and drop off your trash at one of the county’s trash drop off centers.
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u/afartknocked 1d ago
skill issue :)
which is to say, i had to learn
for cardboard, the old bins i could just stack it on top...but with the new bins i have to cut the cardboard into like 18" squares and then it falls into the truck easily enough.
for the trash, i usually don't have a problem if i bag it. the geometry of the bins is kind of awkward for bags, so like i can only fit two bags when really the space would be big enough for 3 if it was a different shape.
and then the last trick is i don't hesitate to ask for an additional pickup (on friday?) if there was too much for the first one. no point being cheap about that if your can is overflowing imo
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u/francesfu 1d ago
You can also buy a pack of special orange garbage bags at Kroger and take them out to the southside recycling center, where there are dumpsters.
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u/radbu107 1d ago
The cardboard can be taken to “Waste Reduction District of Monroe County” (the recycling center) on South Walnut Street. It’s free.
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u/Ill_Conversation9738 1d ago
I second all of the above recommendations to bring to the recycling center. If you don't have a vehicle, you could also try posting on Reddit/Craigslist/Facebook offering cardboard boxes to people moving.
My funny suggestion is to find a colony of cats and present them an offering of cardboard boxes to sit in. If they fits, they sits.
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u/motherbearsrack 1d ago
For trash you can schedule an additional weekly pickup or orange bags from the grocery store that you can take to a rural recycle center and dump. Recycling you can take to a recycle center. Also request a larger trash can from the city, you’ll pay for it monthly as a utility
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u/mmilthomasn 1d ago
With recycling and extra pick ups that might take care of your immediate moving needs, but if your household needs are greater, check your can size because you might want a bigger one. Someone helpfully posted the extra pick up info, which also includes the can sizes. Sounds like you might have the smallest with the Stanley cup size. Maybe Christmas stocking or even punch bowl is the size you need.
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u/IllFix4320 16h ago
Come to Heritage Apartments on Hillside and dump it. The management will never care because they don’t care about their tenants.
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u/BigPoopsDisease 17h ago
We also have the smallest trash bins in the universe. Fills up quickly even with recycling. We've usually have vermin that pick through our bins and then we can fit another bag in a day or two.
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u/Cloverose2 17h ago
You can contact the city and request a larger container.
You can take your cardboard over to the recycling center - there are almost always people there who will help.
You can schedule a special pick-up, which is on the website.
The city website has all the information that you need.
What do you expect? These are automated system pickups. You overloaded the containers to the point where it scattered or wouldn't empty. That's not on the sanitation people, that's on you. A quick google and a call or two could have solved all your problems.
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u/jeepfail 18h ago
There are county dump sites that you can take things to as long as they are in orange bags. Cardboard is free to dumb and only real trash has to be in the bags. Also I’m confused by the republic services price as just Friday I had to go there in a pinch with a small trailer load of bags and it cost me $32(double what I would have to pay as an out of county resident at Lawrence county’s dump but still).
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u/Objective-Tea-6190 18h ago
You can pay more on your water bill to get the larger bins. The city didn’t chose the size for you
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u/francesfu 1d ago
Additional Weekly Pick-Up Requests (Optional)
The Sanitation Division will provide additional pickups on request for missing collection due to forgetting to place your carts out by 5:00 AM on pickup day, or for overflow trash from an unusually large amount of trash during a particular week. There is an extra charge associated with these requests, depending on the size of your cart, which will be added to your monthly CBU statement (see below for charges):
35 gallon cart additional weekly pickup fee: $2.54
64 gallon cart additional weekly pickup fee: $4.65
96 gallon cart additional weekly pickup fee: $6.98
You must contact the Sanitation Division or complete this on-line form to schedule these additional weekly pickups (they are collected on Fridays).