LITTLE ROCK, Ark.(KTHV)- The ice and snow have nearly melted, but what hasn't gone away are all the trash cans waiting to be emptied.
Slowly but surely, life is returning back to normal in central Arkansas. Marvin Benton, a supervisor with Little Rock Solid Waste, said they're backlogged.
"Two and a half days behind, so there is a lot of catching up to do."
Benton says because of weather conditions and the holiday, trash did not run Monday, Tuesday and got a late start on Wednesday.
"We're going to focus all of our attention on nothing but garbage, and try to get the citizen's garbage cleaned up."
Tackling trash can after trash can, sanitation crews work fast to get the collection caught up. To speed up the process, Benton says a supervisor drives ahead to check road conditions.
"For the drivers, they just have to be very careful because a lot of the neighborhood streets have not been cleaned off."
Benton says because of that, they waited until mid-day to begin routes.
"The sun has done a really good job. It has really been out and the wind blowing is helping a lot. They just have to be careful."
Benton says the city is also putting more trucks on the road.
"Most of the routes got two trucks on the route so all the streets that we can get down."
And those leaf bags will have to wait. Benton says garbage is their main focus this week.
"We just shut down yard waste and the on-call trucks and put everything on garbage."
Benton says trucks will run routes until they lose sunlight.
"We keep working until we get caught up."
Crews will work Saturday and possibly Sunday to get back to their normal collection schedule.
