Our block has barrels and recycling bins strewn everywhere. Some marked with house.numbers end up across and two.houses down. The most disgusting thing is the amount of trash left behind; yards, sidewalks and street look horrific. Every week we go out in gloves to clean up after the people who are paid to take the trash away!

"put your barrels back at the curb"???? This is a joke right? LOL...they don't PUT anything back....they TOSS them back! Most of my barrels no longer have at least one of its wheels some are missing both. I'm happy if they stay in the vicinity of my house!

I've purchased two recycling bins in the last two years. Both were broken week one, from the tossing.

Yeah I see the same issue on my street all the time and it causes another issue of blocking the road since it's a one way street with street parking. I understand these guys have to complete their route in whatever amount of time but taking 2 seconds to place the barrels and bins where/how they were won't infringe on that.

My barrels end up in front of my neighbor's house and he ends up taking them into his backyard by mistake. I've already lost one barrel - don't know where it ended up. And I don't dare put the lids on the barrels when I put them out - they always end up gone!

I find the biggest problem to be the wind the last few weeks! Bins, barrels and trash all about before they come as well. My yard seems to beckon everyones trash.. I'm considering how to weigh my bins and barrels down.

I've never seen the trash guys gently put barrels back, they always toss them.
I figured it was because they are under pressure to complete their routes quickly.

I have called Northside Carting a number of times as I watch their guys throw the bins helter-skelter anywhere but where they belong.

Not only do they throw them where ever they want they also leave articles of trash meant for pickup and yesterday then dumped cigarettes butts on the street and just left it there

Several times I've found my barrels carefully lined up across the mouth of my driveway as I head off to work in the morning, but generally they're just tossed on the sidewalk.

I just moved here from Colorado where we have to pay from our own trash pick up and am appalled by the difference. In CO we all have nice hefty trash cans and recycling cans that are less likely to get blown over by the wind and the trash service always puts the cans back where they belong. These flimsy recycling containers are a joke!

This is not an excuse for bins & barrels all over the streets of Salem, but merely an observation of what I see all of the time.
It's got to be a sucky job to begin with to work in all sorts of weather as a trash collector, right?
To make their jobs worse, how many times have you seen a motorist right up behind the truck looking frustrated, pissed off or beeping their horns because they got stuck behind the trash truck?
In their haste to just keep moving, I can see how it is easier for them to toss the bins & barrels.
What pisses me off more is my lazy neighbors whose containers are still out there on the sidewalks or in the road 2-3 days after trash was picked up.

I just moved here from Colorado where we have to pay from our own trash pick up and am appalled by the difference. In CO we all have nice hefty trash cans and recycling cans that are less likely to get blown over by the wind and the trash service always puts the cans back where they belong. These flimsy recycling containers are a joke! And I have also witnessed the trash guys just tossing them around.

On our street, we've not had many issues with tossing. The big thing has been the wind. Most weeks, I need to stop on at least one street in our neighborhood to move a bin from the street before I can keep driving. In the last few weeks, there have been a lot of drivers who have needed to stop on North Street/114 to move a trash bin. Perhaps they wouldn't roll around so much if they were set upright by the carting company before they drove off.

We moved to North Salem in December from Boston. While the barrels and bins don't always make it back onto the grass median between the curb and the sidewalk, I give Salem better marks than the City of Boston. Those Boston guys threw the bins much farther away.

I have this problem too, but to be fair, these guys are on a schedule, they do a job that I sure as hell wouldn't want, and a lot of the barrels end up in the street because that's where the wind takes them.

My problem is they never empty the barrel... I consistently have missed bags and trash in the bins

Yes, half the time there is trash left all over the ground, bottles left behind, and almost all of the barrels at my apt building are smashed and broken from being thrown into the road or tossed back to the side walk carelessly.

Its become so bad on canal street that I honestly barely see a reason to buy trash bags, I might as well just throw my trash out of the window.

Also, to the jerks who live in the yellow house next to Dave Frank's Cycle Shop... can you throw your trash out correctly? there has been a CRT TV face down in front of that building since October and this morning they didn't break down any of their cardboard yesterday and theres's 5' long piece of cardboard and various other bits of trash littering the street in front of that house.

The guys picking up trash or recycle in our neighborhood are pretty good on the most part. The wind is mostly our enemy. I've watched and sometimes they toss but mostly slid the bins from the street to the sidewalk edge and the trash barrel is sometimes tossed on it's side and this is when the wind can take it down the street. I used a permanent marker and marked my 2 recycle bins and both the trash barrel and the cover also with my street & number. Ever since I did that, I've been able to retreave them even if they end out being blown a block away. Since I'm retired now I've also discovered that if I happen to be outside when they pick up, one of the guys will even carry the bins to my garage door. I wave my appreciation because he didn't have to do that. Now if only my neighbor would cover her trash barrel I wouldn't have to pick up what blows out and into my yard or watch animals get into them and make a mess.

In the past five years I have not once had a barrel or recycling bin put back on the curb. They're normally tossed in the street, effectively turning the two lane street into a one lane street until everyone gets home from work and can find their barrels. They're trying to get the job done quickly, but they are leaving a safety hazard in their wake.

The amount of trash that is thrown all over the street is the real disgusting part though. Out of everywhere I have lived, Salem MA has by far the worst trash pick up. My place in Boston looked better after every trash day even with all the homeless people that had torn open all the trash bags looking for bottles and cans than my street in Salem ever has.

I've lived up and down the east coast and Salem's trash pickup service is consistently the worst I've seen anywhere. Prior to Salem I lived in South Boston, which seemed to handle trash in a much more professional and courteous manner. Every week it seems I've got something to curse about...

Our condo associations large blue wheely-bin for recycling has ended up several houses down the street and on the other side on several occasions. It once disappeared for 4 weeks, then re-appeared down the street.

Every trash day when I get home from work I have to pick scraps of my neighbors trash and recycling out of our flower beds, hedge, driveway. This is from barrels being carelessly emptied into a truck that is likely overflowing.

As another reader commented, having wheels on your bin is pointless - it doesn't matter how heavy duty they are, they'll end up being slammed back down on the sidewalk and smashed to pieces. The one wheeled trash barrel that seemed to survive the abuse (bought at Winer Bros Hardware) only lasted about 6 weeks before it vanished completely. I almost feel like I should post photos of it on nearby telephone poles - it was last seen with two garbage bags and answers to the name Steve.

I have no comments regarding my trash, but I have had THREE recycling bins stolen from me in the past year.

The recycle bins are an eyesore and wind up all over the street. I moved here from NYC and the majority of us used recycle bags. They're clear plastic, one used for metal and glass and one for paper. They were sold everywhere and generally very cheap. The entire bag is tossed into the truck so it was much cleaner. I was surprised it's not an option here.

Has anyone noticed how fast the Northside guys work? This topic has come up before and it was said they go home when the route is done.They have incentive to do the job as fast as possible. Noisey,dangerous and messy. People do not work that way for the benifit of the company. They drive way to fast in the neighborhoods and throw everything they touch.

Believe me it is NOT the wind! I am home when the trash men come and it is the trash AND recycle men that seem to make a game out of how far they can throw the barrels\bins. When they aren't throwing them they are purposely putting them in front of driveways and neighbors vehicles forcing the drivers to get out of their cars and to move them out of they way before they can even get into their driveways.
I am so disgusted with the behavior of the trash\recycling men that I refuse to put out recycling and never use a barrel. I put the bag on the curb, I would rather pick up after the racoons then have that barrel smash into my car!

It is ridiculous and has been going on for far too long!!

Yes, I've seen our barrel and bins tossed. What bothers me more is when bins are not completely empties, and when things miss the truck and drop onto the street,they are left there. I walk a loot and have seen so many plastic bottles and cardboard everywhere I walk. The streets are strewn with recyclable material. If you just look around and pay attention to what you see, yoy will see trash everywhere.

As a mom to a 3 year old I can tell you that we watch "the barrel guys" every single week. I have watched them throw barrels into our blooming garden, into the street, I have seen them tear bags (accidentally) and leave the trash on the side of the road, and I have NEVER seen them place them back on the sidewalk. They are always thrown into the street or into my driveway. Either way it's a nuisance.

I watch our barrels and recycling bins get thrown all over the place by the trash men (aside from one guy who is awesome and always waves to my kids in the window... he places the bins neatly on the sidewalk). I was going to call the trash company to complain, and still might do that. We tipped our guys pretty generously during the holidays and wrote them a nice note... apparently they didn't appreciate our appreciation for the job they do (so poorly, I might add)...

Seems the best solution would be to send these complaints directly to the rubbish company. And week after week, call and let them know. Take photos, even.

Remember, they have a contract with the city; if they aren't doing the job they should lose the contract.

Coming home and finding the trash barrel tossed on its side across the driveway....not a warm welcome. I'll cut them slack when it's windy, but this happens quite frequently.

I moved here from Bellevue WA where they had a much more preferable system.
Everyone had a wheeled cart parked in front of their homes with 2 recycled barrels with 1 barrel for trash. These barrels all had attached covers and were very sturdy. The trash men wheeled the cart to the curb to put the cart on a hydraulic lift. The cart was then lifted onto the truck, where the barrels were dumped and were placed back on the cart which was subesequently lowered . The trash men then wheeled the cart to the house where they had first retrieved the barrels. In our climate, we really need this kind of system because of the wind, rain and snow. The streets remain clean because the containers aren't open. From what I could see the barrels got no wear and tear and the streets remained clean.

You shouldn't charge people, if you have as lousy a system as you do. Take lessons from other communities. I live on a one-way street downtown and the barrels get left consistently in the middle of the street.. It is a rare day when a driver isn't forced to stop on trash day to move the barrels to the very narrow sidewalks that we have. Again I reiterate it is lousy human relations to charge people for a service that is neither efficient or the job is not being done properly.

My barrels were simply not picked up Tuesday (recycling was though). I rang the Garbage company that evening, and a nice man said to leave them, and they'd be picked up in the morning. Sure enough, they were, but the empty barrels were *both* left in the busy road, and a car had to slam on breaks and swerve out of the way. Thankfully I was home and could get them in quickly.

But this is becoming a public nuisance. They are asking to be enjoined as defendants in car accident lawsuits.....