As I drive around neighborhoods on trash pickup days, I’ve been seeing blue bags and, sometimes, flattened cardboard boxes — by the curb. These are not picked up by regular trash collectors. I’m guessing the same trucks are picking these up as pick up bags of yard waste and other bagged trash. The latter, of course, have $1 or $2 stickers. The blue bags don’t appear to have anything but a big happy face. What are they? This brings up another question. Can you really put out a mattress on trash day and get it picked up with nothing more than a $2 sticker?
The blue bags and cardboard boxes you are seeing are picked up by a private recycling company that recently started doing business in Bartlesville (Recyclops). The company is completely unrelated to the City, which is still operating the drop-off recycle center at 10th and Virginia.
The yard waste collections are done by the City approximately two times per year (spring and fall) and that includes collection of bagged yard debris and bundled tree limbs.
Regular trash collection includes the City picking up what’s in the polycart, of course, as well as items that are bundled or bagged that have a sticker on them (each item must have a sticker) — but not “bulky items” — there’s some sanitation lingo for you — like mattresses.
For those types of items, the City issues a coupon that is good for one free trip to Osage Landfill anytime during the calendar year. You should have received yours in your water bill during the March/April time frame. If you didn’t get one, you can give Utility Billing a call at 918.338-4224 or email utilitybilling@cityofbartlesville.org to find out what you can do.