Saturday June 26th, 2010 - Burnaby Senior Challenges Trash Pick-Up Change and Wins

Sometimes bigger is not necessarily better, at least when it comes to trash collection. The city of Burnaby recently acquired some new automated trash collection trucks in an effort to streamline the system. That works unless you live on a narrow street that the bigger trucks cannot easily negotiate.

The 4500 block of Rumble Street is just such a place. Standard lanes are 14.8 feet wide. Rumble Street comes in at 13 feet, not compatible with the new trucks. As a result homeowners were advised to put trash bins in their front yards for collection. This may not have been an issue except that the front yards are higher in elevation, meaning the trash bins must be hauled uphill or taken up steps, not an easy thing for some people.

Walter Koblbauer, 64 solved the uphill battle for himself and his next door neighbour, aged 95, by taking the trash to work. But, he was paying for trash collection, so he started a petition to again have trash pick up from the back of his home. The petition worked. Rumble Street residents will no longer have to pull, push or drag their trash totes uphill. Neville Street residents, who share the lane, will still have their trash collection from the front of their properties. They happen to live downhill.