In Little Rock, trash calls light up lines at 311 Center

Garbage requests near 60,000 in 2016

Little Rock's 311 service request system is used mostly to request or report problems with trash pickup, a review of 2016 data shows.

Not using the system correctly could result in longer wait times for curbside pickup of bulky items, such as household equipment and furniture, officials said.

The city opened its 311 Center in 2007. Initially, residents could call to report nonemergency problems, request services, ask for city information, report stray dogs or notify the city about a missed trash pickup, for example.

Since then, the system has been updated to include a smartphone app and online database that allows residents to make requests without having to call the center. The center also no longer takes nonemergency police calls.

Since its inception, trash pickup has been the main use for the service system, said Jameson Denher, the 311 Center director.

In 2016, there were almost 60,000 trash-related service requests logged.

That included requests to pick up bulky items, reports of missed garbage pickups, requests for large limb and bush pile pickups, problems with a garbage carts and reports of illegally dumped items, such as construction materials.

The majority -- almost 30,000 -- were requests for what the city calls "bulky items" to be picked up.

"We consider bulky items any nonhousehold garbage that you can't get into your cart, such as furniture, carpeting, barbecue grills, that kind of stuff," said Warren Atkins, the city's solid-waste services manager. "Things we don't pick up are building materials, tires, auto parts and bulky liquids."

Residents are supposed to call 311 or make a request using the smartphone app or online system, to schedule pickups for curbside items that won't fit in a garbage cart.

The city will give the resident a specific date -- usually within three to five business days -- when the items will be picked up.

"The public is supposed to call in to schedule a date, and when we give them a date, they are supposed to put [the items] out there on the date we told them we'd be by. But a lot of people just throw it out in the yard and wait for someone to find it," Atkins said.

Wait times are lengthened to up to 10 days after Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year holiday, when bulky-item pickups are suspended so those crews can assist with routine trash collection.

Sometimes, such as when a tenant moves out and dumps belongings on the side of the road without any notice to the city, items can sit for weeks before being noticed or reported to the city. Sometimes neighbors will call in to complain about the eyesore.

Weekly trash crews are supposed to mark places on their routes where items are curbside and have those addresses put into the system for pickup by the bulky-item crew.

Three bulky-item crews, each with three workers, are out five days a week to pick up 165 scheduled loads per day.

In Little Rock, residents in Ward 1 -- which includes downtown and east Little Rock -- report more trash-related complaints and service requests than any other part of the city.

In 2016, the area reported 13,757 requests. Ward 1 stretches south along Interstate 530. It includes Central High School, and goes as far west as Fair Park Boulevard.

Wards 6 and 7, the west-central and southwest parts of the city, followed with the next highest reports, Ward 6 at 9,087 and Ward 7 at 9,057. Other areas of the city ranged from 6,000 to 8,200 trash-related requests submitted last year.

During the past few years, the city has had repeated problems with garbage trucks breaking down or needing repairs, at times delaying garbage pickup across the city.

Officials have remedied the maintenance problem by purchasing a new fleet of garbage trucks, Public Works Department director Jon Honeywell said. All 16 garbage trucks will be replaced by the end of the year.

Half were replaced last year. The city approved purchasing eight more this year. Four have arrived and will be put in service once they are outfitted with city logos. The rest are expected by the end of the year.

Previously, the age of the city's trash trucks ranged from brand new to more than 10 years old. Now, the city has a new policy in which collection trucks will be no more than 2 years old. As they reach that age, they will be sold and new ones will be purchased through a rotating system.

"That's going to make a big difference, we think, in our ability to be out and collecting garbage in consistency as it relates to mechanical issues," Honeywell said. "We will eliminate the old trucks. Some of them we are going to keep as backups."

Honeywell said Little Rock's 311 system has helped his public-works division with scheduling bulky-item pickups.

"We get more than 25,000 requests through 311 every year [for bulky items]. We got more than 28,000 in 2016. That's a lot of stuff going out there and being picked up that's outside of your regular trash pickup," Honeywell said.

"The vast majority of those are people calling in and asking for it. It's not people putting stuff out and waiting on someone to call it in [as a complaint.] So it's really been a benefit to us. The 311 side of things helps us schedule all this stuff and allows the citizen to call in and get a [pickup] date," he said.

"The more people who know about it, the better it will operate. It may eliminate some of those people throwing a bunch of stuff out and hoping it disappears and making their neighbors angry," he added.

Metro on 02/12/2017

Upcoming Events