Interview with Shirley Robinson, voice of Portland's garbage and

Trash tends to raise tempers - and that's a lesson Shirley Robinson learns daily.

Robinson has been the voice of the Office of Sustainable Development's garbage and recycling hotline for the past 10 years, fielding from 150 to 170 calls a day. She directs callers to the people within the ODS who can answer their questions about building green, saving energy or making their office recycling more efficient. She answers questions about all different types of recycling.

And then there's the trash talk. Robinson fields all solid waste and recycling questions and complaints as well as investigates what's happened when cans and bins don't get emptied. She hears a lot of raised voices - and a lot of swearing.

But she's learned not to take it personally - or to hold onto the complaints. The next call you get kind of cancels out the first one, Robinson says. Someone will call and say something really nice, and you forget about it.

DJC: Does your phone just ring all day long?

Robinson: Well, this week has been rainy, so they haven't been able to get outside and get the leaves up. Our leaf depot just started this weekend, so we've had calls on the leaves. But, right now, it's been quiet because of all the rain.

DJC: Is your level of business dependent on the weather?

Robinson: It goes with the weather, and it goes with the billing because all the haulers don't bill at the same time. If we have a rate increase, I get calls about that, or whatever's going on at that given time. And then if we have bad weather, they call about that: The garbage gets missed, the yard debris gets missed, the recycling gets missed.

DJC: Recycling is a confusing issue for many people. What are some of the common things people call to ask about?

Robinson: What is recyclable? What do the haulers take? We have a poster that we use that we give out to the haulers that they send to their customers. The most common recycling question that they ask is what plastics are recyclable at curbside. There's only one plastic that's recyclable at curbside, and that's your plastic bottle with the neck. Ketchup bottles, shampoo bottles, detergent bottles. That's the only one.

Margarine tubs, yogurt containers, stuff like that - there's not a market for it. It's made out of a different type of plastic.

DJC: Do you get calls on weird things that are in no way recyclable?

Robinson: I get calls about a lot of stuff that's not recyclable at curbside. They can call Metro and get a list of who will take these things. Microwaves, irons, Venetian blinds. They're recyclable, but not at curbside.

DJC: What about recycling in the construction arena? Is that stickier?

Robinson: Not really, because construction is usually concrete, dirt, wood and stuff like that. Normally, Metro sets up different areas in the city. People call in, and if they have different things that we don't accept, then I give them Metro's number. They look at the ZIP code, and usually there's a place close to them that can take the wood, concrete, dirt, cardboard and different things.

Most of the time they're confused if they're doing the job themselves. A lot of people contract jobs out to the big contractors, and the big contractors bring in the big drop boxes. And then whoever they take it to sorts it out into different piles.

DJC: Do a lot of things not get recycled because people don't know they're recyclable?

Robinson: Not really. For recycling, people get money. And that's what we tell a lot of customers who call in and say, I saw a driver do this with that and do that with that. I tell people, you don't have to worry. If it can be recycled, they're going to recycle it. That's a way they make money. It gets weighed by the pound. You have people calling in all the time because people go through the neighborhood and go through the recycling bins. And they take out everything they can get money for.

DJC: What's the most common business recycling question you get?

Robinson: I get a lot of businesses that call in about batteries. All of them use batteries to a big extent. But batteries now, the smaller AA and AAA and C and D batteries, have very low mercury, so they're not harmful. We get a lot of calls on that - people can't understand it. It's just hard. When people get used to doing stuff over and over, I have a hard time telling them that it's not that important anymore to keep them out of the landfill.

DJC: Do you get a lot of repeat callers?

Robinson: Oh, yeah. Calling about the same things. It's like they think it's going to change. A couple of months from now, they'll call and ask the same question about the same thing.

DJC: What are the questions they keep asking?

Robinson: We used to have a lot more residential garbage haulers than we have. A lot of the smaller haulers sold out to the bigger haulers. When you had these small haulers, they didn't have a lot of customer accounts - maybe 300 or 400. And they were able to give their customers more attention. They didn't have as many customers to deal with.

Now that the bigger haulers have the smaller accounts, they can't give all the people the special attention that they were used to getting.

People get used to being treated a certain way. And then when they aren't, they can't handle it. They think this hauler's being rude, he's hateful, he doesn't bill right because he charges for every little thing.

DJC: Do people usually have questions or do they have complaints?

Robinson: We get the complaints and the questions. We have four different-sized cans: a 20-gallon can, a 32-gallon can and a 35- or 40-gallon roll cart. Anything above a 32-gallon can, the customer has to get from the haulers themselves. They have a mechanism on the can and a mechanism on the truck that lifts the can up automatically. It keeps up the safety and the men from getting hurt.

That's the way the rates are based, and if you want to try and jam a month's worth of garbage into a weekly pickup, if you're going to try to put all your garbage in this little bitty can, then the guy won't take it because it's overweight. A 20-gallon can can't weigh more than 35 pounds. A 32-gallon can can't weigh more than 55 pounds. And a 35-gallon can is 75 pounds.

DJC: So, we're not tricking anybody by shoving all our trash in?

Robinson: Uh uh - not at all. The hauler can't pick it up. He picks up 400 or 500 cans a day, so he knows when he picks this can up if it weighs 55 pounds or more. And then he'll call in and say, the can weighed 100 pounds. And then the lady will call in and say it didn't weigh any more than 80. Well, he still can't pick it up.

DJC: Do you ever get strange questions that just completely throw you for a loop?

Robinson: They don't ask you strange things; they neglect to tell you things. There was a lady who called on Monday, and she said: He just went right by recycling and he did not pick it up. And I said, Well, did he flag it? They have the little flags they put on it if something's in there that's not supposed to be in there. She said, No, and I can't understand it. So I said, Well I'll check into it and call you back.

I called the hauler and said: All her neighbor's recycling was picked up, but this lady's wasn't. The hauler said: OK, let's take a look. I'll get a hold of the driver and I'll give you a call back and let you know.

Maybe five, 10 minutes went by, and the hauler called me back. She was laughing, and she asked me, Did she say what she had in the recycling bins? I said no, and she said, She had dirty diapers in there. She knows why he didn't stop and pick them up. At least she could have said something to me. I just figured she didn't think I would get wind of it.

You get simple calls from people who try to play one end against the other. In actuality, most of them know that you're not going to talk to the driver. But now the drivers are getting into computers, and they call in when something happens on their route and tell them what's wrong. So it's noted on their account if the customer calls or if I call.

DJC: So you're not only taking the calls and directing the calls, but actually figuring out what's going on?

Robinson: Yep. I'm listening to them and explaining to them. It isn't hard. Most of the time, you can make them see the light and make them understand why it wasn't done or why they did do it this way. But some of the time, it just can't be done. So you go ahead and write it on a complaint form and send it over to someone else to handle.

It's not a bad job, it's very interesting. What really amazes me is that people get so upset about garbage.

DJC: Do you get yelled at?

Robinson: Oh, yeah. All the time. Hung up on, called a fool. People get outrageous. I mean, they really do.

DJC: Is it mostly garbage that people get mad about, or is it recycling too?

Robinson: It's all of it. You name it, it's all of it.

DJC: Do you ever get to hear any good stuff in addition to the yelling?

Robinson: Oh yeah. They call and compliment the drivers, especially during the holidays. They bake them cookies and give them cards and write them a little check for being so thoughtful. You hear all types of good things that the customers do for the drivers. Sometimes, they'll just call and say: Would you tell the driver I really appreciate what he did for me?

DJC: What's the best part about the job?

Robinson: I think it's really just the people, the different people who call. My best ones are the little old people. I have one lady who will call me four or five times a day. It's talking to them. Most of them just want someone to talk to, and they're lonesome. And they appreciate whatever you tell them. I just hope when I get to their age and I'm in their predicament that I don't call and somebody shuts me down.

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