The $500 fine article broke Gables Insider records with number of views and comments on a single article. Many residents are outraged over the fine and how the city is handling cardboard boxes. Others recognize that garbage tipping fees are only increasing and we must do our part to recycle and control costs.
We want to see how you recycle and what you’re seeing in your neighborhood!
Please send us photos of trash pits in your area, recycling bins and how your family recycles. We want to see that cut-up cardboard!
Submit photos and opinion pieces to info@gablesinsider.com
This is ridiculous. you expecting us to now work to break down boxes,which being elderly is difficult and we receive many with online transactions. But we use the boxes to place either heavier trash or irregular trash on the swale. Increase the burden on the citizens! And add a huge fine to boot! More than upset at how the city disregards us …where is our representation?
I agree. Unfortunately this is not a fair method. I have neighbors 2 houses down that are not very civilized, for example when the time came to dispose of Christmas trees, we heard them at 9 pm on a saturday doing landscaping an then disposing their landscaping debris along with the Christmas tree infront of our house.. judging by how they treat each other I was not going to go out at 10 pm and tell them not to do it… so this is definitely not a fair strategy…. Maybe why not hire more security to go around the neighborhood making sure people behave in a civilized way instead of spending hundreds of thousand of dollars in art that has nothing to do with the city’s architecture… just a thought!
Not a good idea as more commerce is done thru the mail.
I am a firm believer in recycling.
I always place cardboard boxes in the recycling bin or next to it if they don’t fit. When they are not picked up after 3 weeks, they go in the swale on a Monday night. If the recycling team picks it up as they are supposed to, there will never be cardboard in my swale.
The Gables is the most expensive, restrictive and inefficient system in the county. Bar none.
If you’re ever home during the day to see the amount of time and manpower it takes to do their convoluted pick up system, no doubt designed by the trash workers’ union and the fact that residents have no access to county trash sites.
We received a notice three weeks ago after neighbors left boxes on the trash pit. The notice stated that cardboard boxes cannot be placed into the trash pit. At least 3 other home owners use the pit in front of our property. I immediately called the person that left the notice to tell him this information. He stated that he also notified the neighbors. The very next week, more boxes were in the pit. It won’t take long until the City realizes that it is absolutely impossible to fine the correct perpetrator. This was not a well thought out policy or procedure. If our property is fined, we will fill in the trash pit permanently and use a different method to dispose of yard waste.
I own two duplexes. City of Coral Gables does not pick up our trash – Waste Management does.
Waste Management will NOT take the flattened boxes to recycle. They told me to put them on the swale for the trash truck to pick them up. Do you exempt commercial units/neighborhoods?
I have been a resident of Coral Gables for over 35 years
I recycle since the recycling project started
Sometimes I go to bed on Thursday night with normal amounts of trash on the swell in front of my home for Friday’s collection and wake up to huge piles of boxes and furniture that have been added to the pile
I guess we’ll have to take pictures on Thursday night to validate our truth and be prepared with proof
I only found out about this via the newsletter. My neighbors are not aware as other family members until I told them. I don’t know how you informed the community of this new process and actions, but whatever it was, did not work 100%.
I also agree with the other comments where the trash pit is shared amongts two households. How do you determine “who done it”?
I agree with the effort to clean up the swale trash sites and levying fines, but I’m concerned about fairness. In many cases, more than one homeowner uses a particular swale dump site. At times, people driving by stop to unload their trash even though they don’t live nearby. Also, several homes, not just the home with the swale dump pit share the site. I assume the City will levy the fine on just the homeowner that unfortunately has the dump pit adjacent to their property. That’s unfair and will create neighbor to neighbor battles. Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution to suggest.