Carmel residents raise concerns over trash service 

Residents of Woodland Trail in Carmel Hamlet are asking town officials for help with what they say has become a yearslong problem with garbage collection, including leaking trucks, missed pickups and newly issued trash containers that are difficult for elderly and disabled residents to handle. 

Julie Warbrick and Diana Drake Behan brought their concerns to the Carmel Town Board during its Sept. 16 meeting, saying AAA Carting, the town’s contracted sanitation provider, has not adequately addressed problems at the 85-unit condominium development. 

Warbrick said garbage trucks have repeatedly left behind liquid waste and debris on the development’s roads and that residents have also experienced missed or delayed pickups. 

“We’ve endured some years now of substandard sanitation services from AAA,” she told the board. 

The latest dispute involves large, wheeled containers provided for use with AAA’s automated collection trucks. Warbrick said the containers are too large for Woodland Trails’ narrow roads and limited storage areas and can block sidewalks and extend into roadways. She said the problem is particularly difficult for residents who are elderly, disabled or live alone. 

Behan, a Woodland Trails resident for about 45 years and a former condominium board president, said she cannot maneuver the containers herself. 

“The trash can comes up to my neck and the recycling can comes up to my chest,” she said, adding that she is both elderly and disabled. 

The women asked whether smaller containers could be provided. They also said Woodland Trail previously contracted privately for curbside garbage collection before the roads became public, and the development came under the town’s collection system. 

Town engineer Richard Franzetti said his office has received photographs documenting the problems and has contacted AAA about missed collections. He said the town’s contract requires the company to remedy missed pickups and address leakage from its trucks. 

Board members discussed other possible collection arrangements, including centralized areas for garbage containers, although residents said that could create difficulties for elderly and disabled homeowners and that the development lacks suitable space for Dumpsters. 

Councilman Rob Kearns said he and Franzetti would contact AAA and arrange a discussion involving the company and the Woodland Trail homeowners association. 

“We will have a conversation with AAA and the president of the HOA, and we will come up with a solution that works for everybody,” Kearns said.