BALTIMORE — Wednesday marked the return of more than 100 workers with Baltimore's Department of Public Works. Many of those workers hit the streets in trash trucks ready to collect garbage that's been sitting.
"We’re doing the best we can. It ain’t easy. It’s hard work," said DPW worker Charles Smith. "A lot of guys are on these routes that they don't really know but we're still doing it.
WMAR-2 News synced up with Smith and his crew in the 1200 block of Silverthorne Road. Smith and his crew work as backup to other trash trucks, picking up any missed locations.
"We’ll come in if somethings been missed," said driver Bryant Watkins. "We're working in a three truck team. One in the front, one in the back and one in the middle. We're the truck that usually comes back around. If we continue working like this, nothing is going to be missed."
In addition to crews doing backup work, supervisors with DPW are also out in the field.
"We're surveying neighborhoods that have been missed," said Jerome Ragsdale, Superintendent of Mixed Refuge and Curbside Recycling. "It’s just all hands on deck. Our instruction is to take everything. We want to take everything and get all the mixed refuge the recycling on and recycling fee off the street.
DPW administrators hope to have trash pickup back on schedule by later this week. In the meantime, crews in the field are asking for continued patience from the public.
"We're doing our job," said Watkins. "Not only are we worried about getting trash and stuff like that. We also have to worry about the vermin and the rats and stuff like that. Then you got people putting stuff out and we don’t know if that house was shut down or if they were in quarantine. We don’t know. We’re doing this because we love our city, just give us a little time."
