FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Thank you, City of Knoxville residents, for working through this transition with us! Distributing 60,000 garbage carts has proven to be a challenge, and crews throughout the weekend and into next week will continue to deliver carts and make adjustments.
Please know: If you are a household eligible to receive residential curbside garbage pickup, and your cart still hasn’t been delivered, you WILL get a cart.
In the meantime, continue to set out trash as you always have and it will get picked up.
Across the city, some residents are experiencing the same common issues, so we wanted to answer some of those frequently asked questions through this blog post.
Why didn’t I get a garbage cart yet?
-Does your address in KGIS (Knoxville, Knox County, KUB Geographic Information System) match the address on your mailbox? We have a list of addresses that the cart distributors could not find, and we’re revisiting each of those houses to determine if that is the case.
-Is your driveway on a different street than your address? For example, if your address is 400 Main Street but your driveway actually empties out onto Hill Avenue, this is a challenge. Again, we will be revisiting each missed address.
-Is your house located behind another house and not apparent from the street? We will find you! Just like with the previous two issues, now that most households have carts, we can slow down and check the discrepancies between KGIS and real life.
-Do you have a shared driveway? Maybe check with your neighbor to see if their cart was delivered. Each single-family house should have only one cart.
-Are you residing in a newly-constructed house or apartment? Your structure may not have been in KGIS when we developed the address list. If you live in a very recently constructed house – built in or after 2015 – call 311 and let the customer service agent know that you haven’t received a cart, that you live in a new house and that it wasn’t on the tax rolls for 2015.
Why did I get two carts?
-Each single-family house should have only one cart. Additional carts may be obtained through Waste Connections for a monthly fee. Please call them at 865-522-8161, Extension 2, to set up your account. The second cart will have the Waste Connections logo on the side. If your household has two City of Knoxville gray carts, you may have been delivered your neighbor’s cart by accident. We want your neighbor to have the same great service, so please ask around.
-Do you have two driveways? Please check with your neighbors to see if they are missing their cart. Your double driveway may have been perceived as the next house’s driveway, and you may have been inadvertently delivered their cart.
-Do you live on a corner lot? Again, please check with your neighbors to make sure that you didn’t accidentally get their delivery. If you have a street on both sides, one crew might be delivering on one street, and another crew on the other side.
Why didn’t my trash get picked up in the new cart?
-Are you a single-family home with two City of Knoxville garbage containers? The City provides for the pick-up of one 95-gallon garbage cart a week. Consider recycling to reduce waste volumes, or call Waste Connections at 865-522-8161, Extension 2, for another fee-based cart.
-Did you place your cart at the curb with the lid shut, wheels toward the house, and 3 feet away from other objects? We will be working with you to ensure proper set-outs. The trash collectors will be using trucks fitted with a new type of lifting mechanism. Because the garbage trucks will be hoisting the carts and mechanically dumping the trash, it’s critical that the carts be placed away from vehicles, utility poles or other items that might restrict the garbage truck mechanism from picking up the cart. It’s also important that the carts not block traffic, mail service or sidewalks.
-Did you take the cart to the curb before 7 a.m. on the correct day? Recycling every other week is sometimes tricky to stay on top of. And with how busy life can get, even weekly trash pickup can be the last thing on your mind. Please remember to have your carts out on the proper day by 7 a.m.
Where is my recycling cart?!?
Thank you, Knoxville, for being so passionate about recycling! We have about 300 more recycling carts to distribute. Since the recycling carts are dispersed throughout the whole City rather than concentrated in pockets, the delivery is more time-consuming. Be assured – if we said you will receive one – you will! We want to encourage recycling, not discourage you.
The number of City curbside recycling households – more than 24,000 – is an all-time high number. The City will have added another 1,600 households this month, once the last recycling carts are delivered.