Hundreds of students living in the neighborhood east of New York Avenue and west of Wheeling Avenue are now required to put their trash on the street curb instead of the alley, where trash is placed in all other campus area neighborhoods.
Junior Janelle Cochard, who lives in the affected neighborhood, said having her trash picked up at the curb hasn't been an inconvenience to her or her roommates, but it might become one in the fall when more students populate the area.
Nikki Grigsby, public relations director for the Muncie Sanitary District, said the department had considered having trash pickup locations for the neighborhood moved for about six months.
"It will be a huge saving to taxpayers," she said, saying that a mechanical arm attached to the garbage truck will pick up curbside trash, eliminating two of the three occupants of the trucks.
The trash pickup location has been moved in two Southside communities, and the Sanitary District has received few complaints from residents of those neighborhoods, she said.
But students who live in the densely populated rental properties east of campus said the new pickup policy won't work as well for their neighborhood.
"I just think it's an inconvenience altogether," junior Rachel Whited said. She and her three roommates, who live on the 1200 block of Rex Street, have access to off street parking and don't have to worry about blocking the curb, but visitors to her house often park in front of other houses, blocking other residents' trash cans, she said.
"It'll be a problem for other people," she said. "I don't know where they would park."
Grigsby said the Sanitary District will "always have the option to review parking policy." In the fall, the Sanitary District could ban parking on one side of the street or between 7 a.m. and noon, she said.
Curbside pickup will also help keep alleys cleaner and cut back on worker injuries, Grigsby said.
"You'd be surprised by the things people will put in the alley they normally won't put in the front yard," she said. Residents concerned they won't be able to get rid of all their trash should know they can bring up to 1,000 pounds of miscellaneous garbage, including furniture and appliances, per year to East Central Recycling on Centennial Avenue, she said.
For trash not taken to ECR, the curbside pickup policy indicates residents are responsible for their trash being in an easily accessible place. The main problem with this policy, Cochard said, is that residents can't control who will park in front of their house after they put the trash out.
"We don't control how many cars park in front of the house, and if we can't move the trash, it won't get picked up," she said.
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