Mount Pleasant, Michigan, commissioners restrict residential pick up times

City commissioners in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, approved changing the city’s solid waste removal policy, a report by Central Michigan Life says. Pick up time for residential areas and adjacent commercial areas now must occur no earlier than 7 a.m. and no later than 8 p.m.

The ordinance was made after several residences complained of removal trucks waking them up early in the morning, the report says. Several local business owners and waste removal officials criticized approval, including Phoenix-headquartered Republic Services Municipal Services Manager Matt Biolette.

Biolette told Central Michigan Life that the ordinance will cause safety risks and economic harm. Phil Mikus of Granger Trash, Lansing, Michigan, said it’s necessary to arrive before 7 a.m. in some areas to avoid traffic and to safely pick up waste from containers located in parking lots where they can be blocked by cars.

When you have to maneuver around vehicles we increase risk factors dramatically,” Biolette told Central Michigan Life. “Those risks will result in property damage or could result in a small child or member of the general populace running out in front of a truck that they can’t see.”