City cancels trash pickup because of Florence; county closes recycling centers

All city sanitation services for residential and commercial customers have been cancelled for today as a result of Hurricane Florence, so City of Sumter residents with normal Friday trash pickup will have to wait until next Friday (Sept. 21) for that service.

City Communications Director Shelley Kile said the city will make an exception to a regulation for that one day, allowing customers to place trash outside their bins.

"We know that the regulation is normally no trash outside your bin; however, for next Friday only we will pick up extra residential garbage since we know some people will have more than what can fit into their Herby Curby," Kile said. "We will pick up all residential garbage that day, so customers can just put it out all at once next Friday."

Kile said city residential pickup is expected to resume on Monday.

For Saturday, all commercial pickup has also been cancelled. Those services are also expected to resume Monday, she said.

If storms associated with Florence cause severe damage in the city, Kile said her department will put more information out on how to handle that debris.

County recycling centers

All nine county recycling centers will be closed today through Sunday.

Assistant Public Works Director Karen Hyatt said the centers will be closed because of anticipated high winds associated with the storm.

The centers are planned to reopen Monday at 7 a.m., depending on the storm's impact, she said.

Also, depending on Florence's impact and damage, Hyatt said the county would work with city officials on setting up debris sites, and that information will be posted and available online.

Additionally, if damage is heavy this weekend, she said the recycling centers would be open seven days next week - instead of five - and residents would be able to take yard debris any day to one of the centers. On a regular schedule, the recycling centers only accept yard debris on Saturdays and Sundays.

County landfill

Hyatt said the Sumter County Landfill will also be closed today and Saturday. The landfill is regularly closed on Sundays and plans to reopen Monday at 7:30 a.m., depending on the storm's impact.