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Syringes, pig heads, albino pythons, full tanks of gas and loose change.
These are just a few of the items the Warsaw Street Department has come across during the city's trash collecting routes.
"I see so much weird stuff it doesn't even faze me anymore," Bill James, refuse collector, said.
The workers are prepared for anything. However, Lacy Francis, street department superintendent, feels the drivers and collectors should not have to deal with the surprises and safety hazards of unbagged trash.
Francis recently encouraged better enforcement of trash regulations by issuing written warnings for all improper containers and open trash.
"Our guys pick up so much stuff with their hands," Francis said. "It's a hassle and a safety precaution for the workers. People just need to help us out, whether it be properly bagging trash, recycling or watching what they throw out."
Fines for unbagged waste or trash cans not within the maximum 32 gallon requirement could become a means for enforcement.
"Ticketing is the last thing we want," Francis said. "But if people don't comply, it's up to the mayor as to what we have to do."
With the potential new subdivisions Warsaw is expected to gain in the next year, Francis is concerned with how the city will deal with the increase in trash production.
"We'll probably have to start running twice a day on certain routes," he said. "That, or acquire an additional truck, but we'll have to wait and see."
The trash crews currently run two separate routes, covering both north and south areas of the city, and collect Monday through Friday. Workers estimate 12 tons of garbage is collected per daily route.
Refuse driver Richard Stengel, who has worked for the department since 1978, hopes people will begin observing the bagged and containment regulations.
Driving a dump truck he likes to call "the overgrown station wagon," Stengel said unbagged trash puts the collectors in danger and takes up time during a route.
"What many don't understand is that we're doing a city job," Stengel said. "They think we're the bottom of the barrel and that's just not right."
With colder weather approaching, Stengel said it will be interesting to see whether or not people begin to obey the rules.
"We have enough problems with the temperature," Stengel said. "It'd be nice to run a clean route."
