BALTIMORE, MD — Snow and ice on streets and alleys has made regular household collection of trash and recyclables dangerously difficult for sanitation workers with the Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW), Bureau of Solid Waste.

 

In addition to dealing with temperatures frequently in the teens or single digits, producing the second-coldest February in Baltimore’s history, workers have been climbing on and reaching over piles of ice to get to trash cans and recycling bins. Many have reported out due to injuries attributed to the working conditions, and their absence has stretched the duties of the remaining workers.

 

Those employees have labored well into the evening, often in bitter cold, to complete as much of their routes as possible. But instead of typical rates of completion in the high 90 percent range, routes in the past week or so have seen completion rates of about 70 percent.

 

“The men and women who haul away the trash and recycling from our homes have tough jobs, but the working conditions since the middle of February have been especially difficult,” said DPW Director Rudy S. Chow, P.E. “We appreciate the patience of our customers whose service has been skipped, and are doing everything we can to provide reliable service.”

 

The snow and ice has also played havoc with the regular street sweeping schedules, because drivers have been needed to respond to snow duty and because curbs have been iced over.