In the event of a garbage strike on Thursday, April 1, by Teamsters Local 174, Allied Waste Services is planning to use replacement workers from around the country to continue garbage collection, with minor changes in service the first few days.

If a strike occurs on April 1, Allied Waste will provide collection to only critical Bellevue customers, such as hospitals, schools and large-volume customers that day. Other customers will get service as they would on a holiday — one day later that week only. Thursday customers’ collection will be Friday, April 2, and Friday customers’ collection will be Saturday, April 3.

Allied Waste will also send out three to six “miss trucks” Saturday afternoon to collect anything missed during the previous two days. On Monday, April 5, normal collection should resume.

Bellevue’s 10-year contract with Allied Waste for garbage, recycling and yard waste, which began in 2004, does not allow full-service disruptions resulting from strikes, but requires Allied Waste to collect all routes as usual, even if that means bringing in drivers from other areas of the country. Allied Waste serves 28,398 Bellevue customer accounts—26,570 single family and 1,828 commercial/multifamily.

Customers with questions can call Allied Waste at 425-452-4762. Although Allied is planning for a high volume of calls, customers may face some delay in getting through. Information will also be on Allied’s website and the City of Bellevue’s website.