Residents in the city of Gainesville will have their garbage service delayed by one day in observance of the Fourth of July holiday.

Customers who normally have their garbage picked up Mondays will have it picked up Tuesday this week; Tuesday customers will have their garbage picked up Wednesday. The Thursday and Friday routes will not be affected.

Recycling will run on a normal schedule. Monday recycling customers should place their bins curbside for pickup.

“This is what people have always seen and expected on holidays,” said Danny Owen, superintendent of the city’s solid waste division.
City garbage customers have experienced a number of changes to their weekly pickup schedules recently.

During April, May and June, Gainesville held an eight-week pilot study to see if the city could save money by switching to once-weekly trash pickup from twice-weekly service.

“We’re back to normal now,” Owen said.

Results of the pilot program will be discussed at two public meetings next month. One will be at 5:30 p.m. July 15 at the Georgia Mountains Center and the other will be at 5:30 p.m. July 22 at the Gainesville Civic Center.

The pilot study is just one option the city is considering to save money on the solid waste operating budget.

City officials also are considering privatizing the service and going to once-weekly curbside service.

The pilot program was implemented at the request of residents to determine how much money could be saved by reducing garbage pickup to once a week.

Staff writer Ashley Fielding contributed to this report