Trash Talk

New Orleans still can't pick-up the trash in a timely manner but everyone involved is expert in knowing whome to blame.

The corps assumed the job to help the battered city after Katrina blew into town Aug. 29, but stopped curbside garbage pickup last month to return full time to its primary purpose: debris collection. City officials, in turn, handed the task over to Waste Management, the company that was contracted to pick up household garbage before the hurricane.

Faucheux said the company had begun handling pickup duties "in the teeth of the Mardi Gras season," when more trash tends to be generated. In addition, the company claims that the corps' contractors missed collections in some areas, leaving more trash for Waste Management to pick up.

A third logistical problem, according to Faucheux, is that Waste Management initially decided to use the routes established by the corps, but has since decided those routes are inefficient. New routes are being drawn up and a new pickup schedule should be announced soon, he said.

The city has known for six months that it will resume its responsibility for waste removal but is waiting only til now to figure out it will do so.

One wonders if Kimberly Williamson Butler is in charge of Sanitation also.