> Editorial
Talkin' trash — not what I had in mind
By Taryn Dameron, posted 3/13/06

Weekly trash pick-up. For someone who has lived in the country and taken care of her own trash her whole life, it sounds like a pretty sweet deal. Just bag it up every Friday, set it on the curb and by the time you get home, your garbage is out of sight and out of mind. 

Styrofoam "peanuts" and fast food wrappers litter the yard and sidewalk after trash pick-up.

Eating utensils, ponytail holders and more decorate the yard of one of Taryn's neighbors.

So I try it. On the first Friday morning after moving into my duplex on Columbia’s north side, I set my two bags of trash neatly on the curb, feeling somewhat proud of myself for actually remembering to do this before the truck came. However, my enthusiasm was quickly extinguished upon returning home and surveying the status of my lawn. It was worse than when I left! Sure, the two neat little bags were gone, but in their place I found bits of stray trash scattered all over the yard. 

Being an understanding person, I thought perhaps I had not tied the bags correctly and they had burst on the way into the truck. Simple enough, I thought, I’ll just tie them better next time. But upon looking down the street I realized that every yard looked just like mine. Either there was some kind of bad bag-tier epidemic going around or we had a bigger problem.

What is the problem? According to a City of Columbia official, there isn’t one. My complaint was the first time he’d heard of a problem with trash that didn’t involve a dog or a scavenger.  Basically there is nothing they can do unless someone or something besides the City of Columbia drops the trash in my yard. I don’t know how the rest of the Columbia feels about it, but when I paid them to take my trash, this is not what I had in mind.

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