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Recycling mystery solved, Republic Services replaces bin next day with no explanation
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BATON ROUGE - After years of getting no help calling the city, Stephanie Davis called 2 On Your Side. Recycling pickup had been skipping Davis each week and she couldn't get an answer why.
The city encouraged her to continue to call 311 or send in a request on the Red Stick Ready app, but week after week it got tiresome.
"I got really direct on the last one, I said my next step is I'm calling WBRZ," said Davis.
Davis is paraplegic and in a wheelchair. Unable to bring the recycling and garbage to the street, she fills out a form every year with the city. It's signed by a doctor and notarized to confirm her condition.
"They should come up to your garage, or wherever you can safely get the can yourself, empty it, and put it back where they found it," said Davis.
It worked for the garbage, but not the recycling.
After asking the city and Republic Services about what could be done to stop this pattern, WBRZ learned it had something to do with the recycling bin's lid color. The garbage bin has an orange lid, but the recycling does not. Friday morning, Davis was provided a new can to match the garbage bin. Now both cans have orange lids.
"You know, the average person doesn't have to beg to have their recycling picked up, so why do I?" asked Davis.
Fortunately for Davis, something has finally changed and hopefully she'll never have to call 311 about her missed collection again. Neither Republic Services nor the City-Parish provided an explanation about why it took so long to replace the bin with a correct lid.
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