The trash pickup is ok.It would be nice if the barrels were not left all over the street.The bigger question is what is the relationship between Salem and Northside?Northside is allowed to operate a business that is a public safety death trap.Has the city given them a permit to do so and if so are taxpayers liable for any accidents? Trash business in Salem is all politics.

I wish I still had the video I shot of the Northside guys on Roslyn st. It's one thing to have the barrels and bins all over the place, It's a hard job they do need to keep a fast pace but these guys were dragging barrels to the truck and then launching the empties over parked cars and onto the sidewalk. I have seen other places that have it much better. I got stuck behind a truck in Ipswich about a week ago and sat there watching the guy run back and forth behind the truck each time placing the barrel upright at the curb. I would bet there is someone at the Ipswich Town Hall or DPW that keeps an eye on their work and enforces the towns contract / expectations. I would say we are not getting the best service for our tax dollar.

The guys do a good job. They work hard and quickly.
Walk the 15 feet and pick up your barrels .

humping trash cans and whatever is on the curb is hard work. any of you who complain should go out and try to keep up with these guys all day. they are athletes with the endurance that should be in the olympics.

To give an honest opinion we would really need to know how much the city pays for trash pickup.

I've had to call them 4 times this year, since January, because the trash or yard waste hasn't been picked up on my street as well as 2 adjacent streets.

I don't generally have a problem with them. I do wish they were a little less willing to spill stuff out of barrels and bins, and then just leave it on the ground.

I wish the city would go to single stream recycling, as well. To all the bottle bill lovers out there, single stream is the way to really increase recycling.

I live in a 15 unit condo building so we have trash done by a private company but our recycling by the city. I wish they wouldn't hurl the trash cans back to the curb. My neighborhood has a friday pick up and I work all day so don't get home until around 5 or so- not easy to pick up the recycling right away. Who knows how many people are up and down the street in my neighborhood before I get home. It is a hard taxing job and I am sure they have alot to do. They went from bi weekly pick up to weekly pick up in the 7 plus years I have lived in salem so that doesn't help I am sure.

The woman that was in charge of the State Police goes out on disability for $160,000 a year and we are busting the nads of the guys that pickup our trash for little money.

There is no reason for these guys to be running down the street and driving as fast as they do.I doubt they do it because they want to.

To John -

I think that they have a lot of barrels to pick up in a limited amount of time and are under a lot of pressure. Salem's weight limit for barrels is 50 pounds; lifting half of that is hard work and doing that fast is hard on the back. zi think that they do a good job.
doing it quickly is harder

sp the collective bottom line here is they work their butts off you wish they were neater tossing a 100 tons of trash a day in any weather for dirt wages and you people have the gaull of not being happy with the service. if i were the trash contractor and found out where you lived i would leave you a note to haul your own trash to the recycle center in north andover

you people would complain if you got handed a million dollars tax free

They do a good job on the weekly trash, but fail when it comes to picking up recycling. Have they ever been on time?

No issues at our building. Trash pickup is timed pretty consistently. Recycling pick-up time is all over the place but I don't see that as a big deal. They always show up eventually.

The reason that they run picking up barrels is when their route is done for the day they go home. what ever the time is.

I love when you put an item out for trash and then the trash men leave it for recycling people and the recycling leaves it for the trash - then guess what? I get let with my trash another week!!

I love our trash guys. They work hard in all kinds of weather, and they are cheerful and friendly to my four-year-old son, who has viewed them as gods since he was less than two. Nobody's perfect, and maybe the city's relationship with Northside is weird, but the guys in the trucks deserve some respect, no matter what they are paid.

I generally do not have a complaint with trash pick-up. Recycling is a different story though. When things fall out of the bins while dumping them into the truck, it is just left on the ground. They will not pick up 3 or 4 bottles or boxes they drop. I have seen this all over the city. I am a walker and have witnessed this and the stuff is all over the streets of Salem...flattened cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, and cups.

No doubt, these guys have a dirty & thankless job but I will complain that just after I bought 2 new barrels and both my recycling bins, They are all cracked from tossing them back to the curb. I understand they have a lot to do and are in a hurry but on cold days what do they expect plastic to do when slammed to the cold ground. I thought of billing the city for new barrels. Please be more considerate.

I just moved to Salem from Georgia and I live downtown. I cannot believe I have to leave trash bags on the sidewalk to be picked up. Dogs and cats get in the bags and garbage is all over the place on Tuesday mornings. There has to be a better way!

On the whole it is pretty good. Would like to have more yard waste pick up, at least monthly. I have yard waste and no place to put it and the next pick up is September (and before you say I can take it to the transfer station, I do not have a car).

Well I guess Northside reads Patch.This week all barrels on my street were left upright,either on the sidewalk or close to the curb. They have a vested interest in Salem(transfer station) What will the service be like if the deal gets done?