City garbage trucks can only pick up trash once a week instead of twice, and now the trash is piling up in alleyways all over the city. Streets Committee Alderwoman Sharon Tyus told KMOX's Kevin Killeen that it's a mess.
"If you go through certain alleys, you'll just see trash overflowing," Tyus said. "Several aldermen say they are keping their trash in their garages, in their yards. People are now using the blue dumpsters -- which is recycling -- to put the trash in."
The problem is a lack of truck mechanics to keep the trash trucks running. The city needs 35 trucks to cover all the routes, and has been ten trucks short in recent days.
"It's creating a nuisance, it's creating rodents, it's creating very angry citizens who feel like they pay their money," she said. "And they pay $14 and they want their trash picked up."
Tyus said it may be time to give up the alley recycling pickup and concentrate on garbage -- and the way it is now is not sustainable.
"In some alleys, it's horrible. It's the smell, it's the animals," she said. "It's demoralizing when you go out in your alley and you feel like you paid your bill, and then you see trash lined up everyplace."