By Anayeli Ruiz
NewsWest 9
BIG SPRING - Overflowing dumpsters and trash flying everywhere, that's what some residents in Big Spring say they are dealing with on a daily basis.
"They will wait like a week or two then the trash is overflowing, the wind blows and there's trash everywhere," Big Spring Resident, Kaila Thompson, said.
"They forgot us one week," Big Spring Resident, Joan Lafond, said.
"It's terrible. The bags are overflowing, my son has to take the trash someplace else because he doesn't have room to put it in his," Big Spring Resident, Cruz Salazar, said.
Several residents NewsWest 9 spoke to said they are having problems with the city not picking up the trash on the designated days.
"It's frustrating for your trash to build up and not be taken," Big Spring Resident, Bobby Barber, said.
The city says that they been trying to do the best they can with what they have. The problem is they are constantly losing their workers to the oilfield.
"It's hard to compete with the salaries in the oilfield. The salaries are so much higher and we can't pay what the oilfield is paying and we continue losing not just trash truck drivers but also staff," Chad Averette, with Big Spring Code Enforcement, said.
As of Monday, the city hired one more driver but they still need more help to keep the city clean.
"We have one that started today so we are still short one driver. Until today, we were short two and when you only have five trash truck drivers that takes almost half of your fleet away," Averette said.
City officials say if you have a lot of trash at home you can help them out by bringing it out to the landfill.
"Our big items that you would normally throw out in the dumpster, try to take it out to the landfill, to keep it where that trash can doesn't get so full. $5 will get you in the landfill and you can haul off what you need to. That will help alot especially with the holidays coming along. The trash is going to increase tremendously. We are going to do everything we can to make sure it's picked up," Averette said.
