The Selma Times-Journal

The holiday trash pickup schedule has left a lot of people confused.

Pickup trucks with limbs and trash could be seen around town. So could trucks with full beds of garbage &8212; household garbage.

According to the garbage pickup schedule published Thursday in The Selma Times-Journal, Thursday’s route ran as scheduled, Monday’s route will be picked up as scheduled, and after being closed for the New Year holiday, Tuesday’s route will run Wednesday, Wednesday’s route will run Thursday, and Thursday’s route will run Friday.

So what does that mean?

Routes that were scheduled for pickup Monday-Christmas Eve- and Tuesday, Christmas Day, will be picked on Monday and Wednesday of next week.

Tuesday’s route, because it falls on a holiday, will be picked up Wednesday. Each route scheduled after Tuesday will be pushed back one day, and routes will resume normal pickup schedules beginning the week after New Year’s.

“It’s got a lot of people confused,” Henry Hicks Sr., Selma Public Works director, said Thursday. “We’ve been getting a lot of calls.”

Hicks said regular garbage service runs Monday through Thursday, and next week the only change will be on the days-no pickup on Tuesday and a pickup on Friday. “By Friday, everybody should be picked up.”

But with most of the city’s residents not scheduled for a pickup immediately after Christmas, trash had opportunity to pile up. Boxes for toys and appliances, drink cases, even furniture lay on curbs Thursday.

David Clibery, entertainment news correspondent for “Real Talk” radio, stuffed trash into a full can next to Holley’s Farm and Garden at the corner of Water Avenue. “With the amount of trash that people produce after Christmas, it doesn’t make sense,” Clibery said. “And when you have out-of-town guests coming into Selma, it doesn’t look good.”

Leela Ellis, a Selma resident who lives on King Street, said, “We’re doing pretty good because we’re getting our trash picked up today. But it’s going to be a mess for other people.”

Ellis is concerned about the debris and boxes that are left at the curb, causing eyesores, and the fact that she has more trash than will fit in her can.

“They should know with it being the holidays, people are going to have paper plates, cups, bottles … I had my whole family here for Christmas.”

She pointed to bags sitting on her back porch.

“The man told me to come out when the trash runs and refill the can so they can empty it. But I can’t do that, I’m sick with a fever,” Ellis said.