Leased equipment may help Salisbury catch up on trash collection

SALISBURY — The city hopes to catch up on trash pick with leased equipment.

In a news release sent early last week, the City of Salisbury announced it had secured the lease of a garbage truck and a front-end loader.

Some residents found that trash was a day or more behind in scheduled pick-ups.

The city said the new equipment should help the Department of Field Operations get caught up. The truck is scheduled to arrive from Pennsylvania on Friday, Jan.5, and will allow crews to make significant progress soon.

“We would like to thank all of the Citizens of Salisbury for their understanding during this deeply frustrating time,” Mayor Randy Taylor said in a prepared statement. “Clearly, this has been an aggravating situation as trash removal is a critical expectation of any resident  — as it should be.

“For that, we are very sorry as this has been an unprecedented set of circumstances. In the next few days, the City should have all of the needed equipment to begin to catch up, but we encourage the public to feel free to reach out. I would like to thank the Field Operations team for their extraordinary lengths to work through the situation despite delays in getting operable equipment.”

The department continues to utilize unconventional means of trash collection including using nontraditional equipment and dumping cans by hand to keep from falling further behind.

Previously, the City announced that routes would be staggered until collection is caught up.

The operational portion of our fleet had been working at maximum capacity and the additional workload caused further malfunctions and repairs — including the City’s own front end loader — also contributing to delays.

The city has purchased three new trucks since 2022, but supply chain issues continue to delay the arrival of these trucks significantly, the city noted.

“This is not an instant fix, but it will be an incredible help,” said Director of Field Operations Mike Dryden. “We have an additional crew in the field that we have pulled from our Parks Department and the City of Berlin is going to help with pickup one day next week.”

The city said residents whose trash was not collected at the usual date and time may leave it out for a crew to collect when they can.

The city also said it is acceptable to return your cans to where you usually keep them and place back on the curb the next day.

Residents may reach out to the Department of Field Operations at 410-548-3177 if their trash has not been picked up in a timely manner. However, please understand that while your calls are important you may need to leave a message due to call volume.