Recycling problems plague Nashville residents

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Residents are becoming upset as their recycling continues not to be picked up.

A Hermitage family is waiting for their recycling to be picked up. They have been for their recycling bin to be emptied for weeks now. John Martens says his family has been using GFL Environmental’s trash and recycling collection services for years, but their crews have let their recyclables keep piling up for six weeks.

“They could say they aren’t going to show up. If they can’t... Just say that. Don’t say you’re coming and not come,” Martens says his patience is running out with GFL Environmental. “We had a couple of instances where they missed maybe a week, but then they can follow up within the next week, so it wasn’t until March that we started to see the lack of integrity.”

They haven’t emptied Martens’s recycling bins since March. Both recycling bins are now complete.

Martens has been keeping the recycling bins in his garage. He rolls them out onto the curb during trash pick-up days. He says GFL picks up their trash but doesn’t touch their recycling bins.

“We contacted them when they didn’t pick up. They said they were coming the next week and then the next week, and it ended up being four different times we contacted them where they said they show up, but they didn’t,” Martens explained.

The pandemic might be to blame for some of these missed recycling pick-ups. Due to supply chain issues, there is a shortage of truck parts. This is something waste collection companies have been battling for months.

Martens says he’s tired of GFL’s excuses for saying they will send a recycling crew but doesn’t.

“They’ve had hiring drivers, issues with that, truck problems, various excuses. But I don’t see how that could pan out over four different times,” Martens said.

News4 reached out to GFL. Unfortunately, they have not returned our phone calls or emails.

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