Six inches of snow and freezing temperatures have made roads dangerous, knocked out power and delayed the collection of garbage in Tate County.
Residents are asked to be patient, follow a few tips
and help their neighbors by following a few tips that will speed up collection and help keep Tate County clean during this winter storm.
"Tate County garbage collection may resume Monday but two things will have to happen," Tate County officials said in a statement on Friday.
"First, the roads have to be safe for our drivers," the statement continued. "Garbage trucks don’t handle well at the best of times. They’re top heavy and have lousy weight distribution. They’re not designed for ice and they aren’t safe to drive on slick roads.
"Second, the landfills have to open," the county said. "The landfill we use has been closed all week. Even if the drivers could get to your house to pick up your cans, there’s nowhere to take the 16 truckloads of garbage they pick up in a normal week.
The county concluded saying regular service will resume when the roads are safe and the landfills are open.
What you can do:
- Wait untill garbage collection resumes before putting garbage at the road. This will allow state and county crews to plow roads.
- Once garbage collection resumes, please place cans with garbage lids down, on level ground, but still accessible to garbage truck mechanical arms.
- Only place garbage in trash cans. Do not put boxes or bags next to garbage cans.
- Garbage trucks will run repeatedly and residents are asked to pull their cans back to the house, fill them up again and place them at the road for collection. It may take several days to haul off all your garbage collected due to this storm.
- Sort your garbage, true household garbage, food leftovers, and items that would make your home unhealthy should go first.
- Paper products, boxes and plastic items can go next week.
- Do not put limbs, leaves, yard trash and debris from the storm in your garbage can.
- The county is making plans to collect storm debris with county personnel and help from the state as soon as roads become safe.
- Please think of your neighbors and others in the community that will benefit from you following a few simple suggestions during this storm.
- Contact your supervisor if you have special needs or concerns.
- Be patient, this is a county-wide issues and residents should do their part to help Tate County.
