How a garbage-collection strike could affect you

Here are some questions and answers about the garbage-collection strike:

Q: Which communities could be affected by a strike?

A: Workers for Waste Management and Allied Waste would be involved. Waste Management serves about half of Seattle homes (in portions of northwest and south Seattle) and parts of King and Snohomish counties, including Auburn, Bothell, Burien, Federal Way, Kent, Newcastle, Maple Valley, Renton, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond, Carnation, Duvall, Mill Creek, Monroe, Arlington, Marysville, Granite Falls and Darrington.

Another company, CleanScapes, serves the rest of Seattle. It's not involved in the current contract negotiations.

A service map for Seattle area garbage collection can be found on the city's Web site.

More information about which cities the garbage companies service in King County can be found on King County's Web site.

Q: Will my trash get picked up?

Due to the strike, some Seattle Public Utilities customers will not have their garbage and yard waste collected today in northwest and south Seattle. Those customers whose collections are missed today are asked to put all of their garbage and yard waste out next week on their regular collection day.

The City’s recycling services are covered by a different contract, and should not be affected by the strike, the city says. All customers are asked to keep their recycling out.

Approximately 18,000 residential customers could be affected by the strike action today in the following approximate areas:

• N. 105th St to N. 85th St, W. of SR-99
• Delridge Way SW to Beacon Ave. S, from S. Royal Brougham to SW Roxbury St.

Under the city's contract with Waste Management, the company must pick up your trash despite the strike.

If your garbage and yard waste are not picked up, leave them out to be collected the following day. If they are still not collected, put all of your items out the next week on your regular collection day.

Customers should call 206-684-3000 if their garbage isn't picked up.

Q: Will this affect my garbage bills?

A: No.

Q: What could the companies face if they doesn't pick up my trash?

A: Under Seattle's contract with Waste Management, the company doesn't get paid if it misses a week of pickups. After that, the company gets fined $250 for each block of missed pickup, which the city said could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"It makes it painful for the company not to comply," Ryan said.

Q: Would my recycling still get picked up?

A: A different Teamsters union, Local 117, primarily picks up recycling and yard waste, while Local 174, whose workers are striking Waste Management, picks up most of the garbage. Local 117 said its members won't cross picket lines, but managers could drive trucks through the picket lines and turn them over to union drivers, who are under contract through 2012.

Q: Can I just haul my garbage, yard waste and recycling to the local transfer station?

A: Yes, but you'll still have to pay to do that, and may have to cross a picket line.