Everyone was talking trash Tuesday night at the town hall meeting. There was also talk of garbage cans, pick-up dates and collection fees.

Several Selma residents attended the hour-long meeting at Pickard Auditorium to learn about the city’s new curbside garbage collection set to take place in early May.

Henry Hicks, general service director, said Selma residents should receive garbage containers from the city by the last week in April.

Beginning on May 2, Hicks said, residents will be required to place the garbage containers on the curbside by 6 a.m. on pick-up days and must have them removed by 6 a.m. the following day.

“You will need to store your garbage containers in the spot where you have always kept them,” Hicks told the crowd. “You’ll need to roll them back under the carport or your backyard after the garbage has been picked up.”

The city will also reduce its garbage collection days to one-day a week. With the new garbage trucks, Hicks said, garbage collection will become a one-person job.

The city currently has twice-a-week garbage pick-up and is usually handled by a three-person crew.

“We will be putting some of our (employees) on other jobs,” Hicks said.

David Wright, regional sales director for Ameri-Kart Corp., the company providing the garbage containers, said the containers hold three times the amount of garbage than a regular 30-gallon garbage can.

“It will be very rare that these containers will not hold the amount of garbage you put in it every week, except for maybe on holidays,” Wright said.

The current $12 a month garbage collection fees will remain the same even after residents are provided with the garbage containers, Hick said.

Those who want to continue with their backdoor service, however, will have to have $24 a month.

“Exceptions will be made to those on social security benefits or those who give me a doctor’s excuse saying they are unable to carry their containers to the curb,” Hicks said.

Residents may also be able to purchase an additional garbage container if their single one does not hold all their garbage, according to Hicks.

Maintenance on the containers will require almost no extra effort on the residents’ part, Wright said, but they may need to be washed out occasionally.

“But they may not ever smell if you keep all your garbage in the bags like you’re supposed to,” Wright said.

Mayor James Perkins Jr. said the curbside service would also mean a strict enforcement of the city’s leash law and keeping properties clean.

The next public hearing on garbage collection will be held April 6 at 10 a.m. at the Performing Arts Center.