I love being outside. I’d much rather be in the fresh air than cooped up inside.
That’s why I exercise outside. Thankfully, I live in a neighborhood with hills and curves and am constantly challenged. It’s a great time. When I’m not traveling and the weather permits, I’m on the roads in the neighborhood and along North Main almost every day.
I put in my earphones, turn on a podcast to listen to, open the app on my phone that tells me how slow I really am as I drag myself around, and I hit the pavement. While I’m out, I look around. That visual stimulation keeps me from getting bored and is also what gave me the idea for this column.
On various versions of my route, I talk to the Hudsons’ dog as he runs up and down the fence line of their yard. I have Ginger the one-eyed beagle looking at me in one part of the neighborhood and then see her completely confused when she sees me again an hour later. I wave at the cows. I see the work Mr. Wren had done on his patio and get a tour from him so we can expand our patio, too. I see the cars that are driving too fast to see me. I also see what people put out as trash.
We’re fortunate in Mauldin in that our sanitation teams will pick up a lot of items. The problem is that people don’t always know what they can throw away and what is considered a no-no.
There are three categories of items that the sanitation and public works crews are looking for on collection days: regular household waste, yard debris, and recyclable material.
Right now, I want to focus on regular household waste.
- The green rollcart is the one used to store and dispose of household garbage. If you have yard waste, like soil, sod, grass, leaves, clippings, and limbs, please don’t put them in the rollout container.
- On your regular collection day each week, place your container along the curb or edge of street prior to 7:30 a.m. but no earlier than 7:30 p.m. the night before. Also, remove the rollcart from the street and place it back in your storage area by 7:30 p.m. on collection day.
- The front of the rollcart should face the street, with the hinge and wheels toward the house, and please make sure it isn’t obstructed by objects like fences, mailboxes, vehicles, etc.
- Do not put poisons, combustible materials, acids, corrosive substances, petroleum-based products, or other dangerous materials rollcart.
- Loose garbage, car batteries, construction materials (concrete, lumber, bricks, etc.), carpet and carpet padding are considered non-collectable items and must be legally disposed of by the resident. This is the one I see people do the most. Home renovation projects are great, but please make sure the contractors or installers take the materials away when they leave.
If you need a rollcart for trash or a recycling bin, those may be purchased in the Business and Development Services Department at City Hall located at 5 East Butler. The green trash cans for residential waste are $65.00, and the blue recycling bins are $25.00 each. Containers that need to be replaced due to normal wear and tear, abuse, or theft are the responsibility of the resident (according to city ordinance), and after 35 years, I’m about to have to make that investment myself as I see our trashcan slowly falling apart.
Hopefully this helps. Much like the tax-free shopping weekend, sometimes it’s confusing what you can do and what you can’t do. If you ever wonder about what will and won’t be picked up by the city, call Mauldin’s Department of Public Works at (864) 289-8904. They’ll answer any questions you have.
— Taft Matney serves in Seat 1 on Mauldin city Council. He can be reached at tmatney@mauldincitysc.com.
