SEATTLE — Tenants at a Seattle apartment complex in the 600 block of 12th Avenue East in Capitol Hill want answers from the city after their garbage stopped being picked up.
They told KOMO News garbage pickup has been stopped from a few weeks to a couple of months based on their estimates.
Andrew Childs who lives at the complex said “we have not had trash pickup since at least December 18th. Christmas was on a Monday. New Years was on a Monday, so it didn’t come either one of those days. So for two weeks, we noticed the trash has been building up. So we started monitoring it and all of January the trash just never came.”
Childs’ husband, Adrian Lopez, shared an email with KOMO News sent to SPU Customer Service. Part of the email said:
For the last month, we have been calling and sending requests for missing garbage pick up for our buildings. However, every time we call the city of Seattle, the operator mentions that they have an inspector and a truck coming to pick it up all the trash the next day. It has been 2 weeks and nothing. Our building management has had at least 2 times a private company coming and picking up the trash on the floor so it is manageable but at this point, this is not sustainable.
Ernesto, another tenant, talked to us in front of their overflowing dumpster. “A few weeks ago, the trash started piling up. One of the crazy things, we’ve got the compost, that’s been getting picked up, the recycling has been fine. But this has been unresolved.”
Tenant Abigail McCallum said “every time I take my trash out, there’s more trash in the area. I don’t know what I can do to help fix it, because there’s not really anywhere else for me to put my trash.”
McCallum said her property manager has been trying to get the issue resolved, “she’s just like, ‘it’s been an ordeal.’”
RELATED | How to properly dispose of batteries, electronics after Seattle implements new garbage ban
The renters worry about rats and raccoons becoming a growing problem.
Across the street, one resident told us trash pickup was late once in January, but since then the issues have been resolved. Another neighbor said she’s had no issues.
So why are there problems at this apartment complex? Is anyone else impacted? Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) sent a statement out, telling us there had been a hack.
“Seattle Public Utilities’ solid waste contractor Recology recently experienced a cyber security incident. No customer information was compromised. The incident minimally impacted solid waste operations but we are actively responding to address any missed pickups or other solid waste operations,”SPU said in a statement.
An additional statement on the city’s website said that SPU was working closely with Seattle IT and Recology to understand the extent of the incident.
“Once Recology discovered the incident, it immediately deployed back-up route and customer data systems, so service impacts to SPU customers have been minimal.”
In the statement, they also claim regular solid waste collection is operating as normal, but “some special item pickups, missed collection pickups, new customer set-ups, or customer-requested service changes (frequency, container size, etc.) may be delayed.”
KOMO News reached back out to SPU to ask about this specific apartment complex, but have not heard back yet.
Chris Gardner, one of the property managers at the complex, told KOMO News the trash bill has been paid and is current.
“We have made four requests by email, and four requests by phone regarding missed pick-ups," said Gardner. "The City has said the reason for the delay is their systems were hacked. Although, our recycling is still getting picked up so this seems odd.”
Gardner said in the interim, they used a private company to haul away some of the garbage. He mentioned the company would have been used more often, “but each time we contact SPU the rep says the garbage will be picked up within 24 hours and then the dump truck never comes.”
Gardner said he’ll have the company come back out and remove all the garbage in the next few days.
Gardner added that SPU won’t waive their trash pickup charges, even though no services have been provided.
SPU provided a link for customers to report issues. Customers can also call 206-684-3000.