Efforts to resume trash pickup ongoing

Trash pickup is returning to normal in New Iberia, Iberia Parish and St. Martin Parish.

New Iberia Mayor Hilda Curry said Wednesday residents who normally have their trash picked up Thurs-day should put it out today; those with a Friday pickup day should put it out Friday.

“People who are normally picked up Monday and Tuesday need to have theirs out on Friday, because they’ll start picking up when they finish Friday and will pick up through the weekend,” Curry said.

Gordon’s Construction and Landfill is picking up debris piled in front of New Iberia residents’ houses beginning this weekend after the company has gotten most of the public roads in the city cleared. Gordon Doerle, owner of the company, said his company has been following FEMA’s 72-hour emergency cleanup plan.

“Starting Friday we’ll have more crews added on to help clean up,” he said. “(Residents) will see a big change over the weekend. We will have plenty of crews in New Iberia working.”

He said the company would make around “five passes over a period of time” and said if a resident’s house or area is passed, crews will return.

Waste Management, which collects trash for St. Martin and Iberia parishes, including the town of Jeanerette, will resume household garbage pickup on the standard weekly schedule for residents and businesses today.

Rene Faucheux, municipal and community affairs manager for Waste Management of Louisiana, said the company is working “around the clock” to return household garbage collection trucks to neighborhoods and streets that can be navigated safely.

They will expand to additional areas as more streets are cleared of debris, said Faucheux.

Waste Management asks residents to separate household garbage and storm debris, which they are not collecting.

The company also said if a home or area is skipped due to heavy volumes of garbage or impassable routes, the company would return the next morning.