Houston's trash pickup troubles may be linked to a long-standing scheduling quirk, according to Mayor John Whitmire, who is backing a major overhaul to improve service.
Missed trash pickups are one of the most common complaints in Houston, and Mayor John Whitmire thinks he knows why: the city's solid waste workers didn't usually work on Wednesdays.
Whitmire told the city council on Wednesday about a chat he had with Interim Solid Waste Director Larius Hassen, who brought up the long-standing practice of scheduling. Hasen asked, 'Do you know that Solid Waste has been off every Wednesday for as long as anyone can remember?' Whitmire told him. "Supposedly it's to build up over time." Someone really thought it was a good idea to shut down a city service in the middle of the week... The department used to have a four-day, 10-hour shift schedule when Mark Wilfalk was in charge.
On Wednesdays, workers volunteered to work extra hours. Wilfalk disagreed with what the mayor said, saying that workers were given Wednesday shifts but not enough to meet demand. Since then, Hassen has gotten rid of the four-day week and switched to a normal five-day, eight-hour work week, which makes sure that every weekday is fully staffed.
When asked why a five-day schedule works better, a department spokesperson said, "Wednesdays were previously optional, but now that employees are coming in five days in a row using updated routes, we are actively chipping away at our backlog every day." They also said that starting earlier to avoid traffic has helped cut down on extra costs and make things run more smoothly.
Regular trash picking won't start up again until Wednesday, but the department is now using that day to make up routes they missed as part of a larger plan to rebuild trust in city services.
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