CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Plenty of spoiled food from Charleston resident’s refrigerators are collectively getting pitched out following Tuesdays’ storm which had left thousands without power.
Several were stopping by to throw away the food into city refuse trucks at two locations Thursday afternoon after Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin announced the trucks would be parked at the North Charleston Recreation Center on 7th Avenue and the Kanawha City Rec. Center on Venable Avenue.
The trucks are expected to be there for residents to toss the food both Thursday, April 4 and Friday, April 5 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Goodwin said she made the decision for this service to be available to people after there had been several inquires regarding where to take it.
Amy Shuler Goodwin
“We received several calls in our office asking for somewhere residents can take their food that may have spoiled due to the ongoing power outages,” Goodwin said. “While AEP is working to get power restored, we want to be helpful by establishing two locations where folks can take spoiled food, if needed.”
A Kanawha City resident, Rita Cobb was one of the many at that rec center pitching out their old food Thursday, and she said they were having to get rid of everything between their fridge and freezer.
“We lost power on Tuesday from the storm, we already threw out a lot of our food trash on Wednesday morning, our normal pick up day, but we’re still without power today which is Thursday afternoon, and they’re out there working and we hope to be restored,” said Cobb.
However, she said they were happy that the city was providing this service to people as they pull out of the damage the storm has caused.
“It’s good, because I didn’t want it to sit either in my fridge or out in the trash until next Wednesday,” Cobb said.
Another Kanawha City resident, Melody Wilkinson was dropping off a total of six industrial-sized trash bags full of old food.
She said the service the city is providing is great, but it may leave out some people who don’t have the means to get there.
“So, think about our elderly neighbors or others in the community who may not be able to load their cars with things or transport it to a different part of the city, and that may prove to be limiting to some people who live in harder to access parts of the community,” Wilkinson said.
Wilkinson said she especially worries about the people who are living off of limited means and resources and how they will replenish their refrigerators, as having to pitch it all out and buy new food is expensive.
She also said as a nurse, she believes there needs to be more public health messaging in understanding the importance of getting rid of spoiled food following a power outage.
“Those who have the most limited resources are going to be the most burdened by the spoilage of all of their food, and so there needs to be really strong communication so that the people who already have limited resources do not eat spoiled food because they have concerns about buying, or an inability to buy food that is fresh,” Wilkinson said.
Residents are encouraged to limit the items they bring to food waste.
If people cannot make it out to the rec centers Thursday or Friday, the city says they can also place any spoiled food in with their regular garbage services the remainder of the week, or they can bring it to the Kanawha City Rec Center during Charleston’s Team Up to Clean Up event this Saturday, April 6 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.