MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Waste collection woes are impacting thousands of residents in DeSoto County as trash continues to pile up.

WREG investigated and here’s how county officials plan to clean up the mess.

Light blue Waste Pro recycle bins, many full to the brim, sit outside almost every home in a subdivision in the Lewisburg area of Olive Branch, Mississippi.

Billy Redding says his family has now been forced to look for other places to throw away their recyclables.

“The trash has been emptied but the recycling has not. you can see it’s contaminated with other stuff because we have no where to put it,” Redding said. “It’s kind of getting frustrating now.. it’s been about almost two almost three weeks.”

DeSoto County Supervisor Mark Garnder says Waste Pro, the county’s contracted waste collector, is struggling to pick up garbage and has been unable to collect recyclables. 

“Waste Pro claims their problem has been a lot of broken down trucks one day they told us they had 8 trucks broken down,” Mark Gardner, DeSoto County District 2 Supervisor said. “And getting people to show up for work.”

The delay, now going on for almost a month, is impacting nearly 18,000 customers in the unincorporated parts of the county.

“On behalf of DeSoto County I’m truly sorry that the service has been substandard,” Gardner said.

As for a temporary solution, the county said it has agreed to allow Waste Pro to pick up both trash and recycling in the same truck for two weeks. The special accommodation will go from March 27 to April 7.

“It is extremely frustrating at my house we work very hard to put a clean recycle load out on the curb to keep it out of our landfill and I know a lot of people make the same efforts,” Gardner said.

While not everyone agrees with the decision, they do know they want the services they paid for.

“I just don’t want trash built up around my house eventually people are going to run out of places to put it and the neighborhood is going to be trashed,” one resident told us.

The county says its 6-year contract with Waste Pro runs through the end of September.

A new company will then take over in October.