GARBY cart distribution complete

All Cedar Rapids Solid Waste & Recycling Customers should now have GARBY carts. If residents are paying for service and do not have a GARBY cart, they should call the Cedar Rapids Solid Waste & Recycling Office at 319-286-5897 to request a cart.

Since the GARBY carts have hit the streets a couple questions have been raised concerning the cart size, bagging garbage and what residents can do with their old garbage cans.

The GARBY cart can hold the same volume of garbage as previous garbage cans: 35 gallons. The GARBY cart does look smaller than residents' garbage cans because it is taller than the average can, but the volume customers are allowed has not changed. At this time, residents that have extra garbage can set it out in garbage bags with the $1.50 extra garbage sticker attached. The Cedar Rapids Solid Waste & Recycling Division is currently discussing options for residents who regularly exceed the 35 gallon basic service, but final options will not be available for a few months.With the launch of the GARBY cart, all customers were asked to bag all garbage before putting it in the cart, but there has been some confusion about what this means. Residents do not have to line their GARBY cart with a bag; they can put in any size or type of bag (i.e., paper, plastic grocery sacks, regular garbage bags) that appropriately contains their garbage. The important point is that the garbage is contained so when the cart is dumped the garbage does not get strewn about the street and the cart remains relatively clean. Larger items such as furnace filters do not need to be bagged, but small items such as Styrofoam packing peanuts do need to be in a bag.

Residents have several options for the disposal of their garbage cans. Garbage cans can be recycled at several locations. City Carton Recycling has a 24 hour recycling drop off location at 901 Ingleside Dr. SW that will accept plastic or metal cans through October. Residents can also take their old garbage cans to any of the upcoming Clean Up CR drop-off events (more details at www.cleanupcr.com). Finally, if customers do not want to recycle their garbage can, they can set it out on their normal garbage collection day with a sign that clearly reads "Take Me" and it will be collected.

More information is available at http://bit.ly/GARBY