16-07-2025
Disabled Fairfield resident hauls trash 2 miles away on wheelchair as sanitation strike continues
It's not just San Joaquin County residents feeling the impact of sanitation workers being on strike. In Solano County, many in the city of Fairfield are also frustrated by the lack of service.
Negotiations to end this nationwide sanitation strike ended on Tuesday, with no deal struck.
As trash continues to pile up locally in San Joaquin and Solano counties, some neighbors are tasked with a tougher trek than others to keep the curb outside their home clean.
With his trash can in tow, rigged to a wagon on the back of his motorized wheelchair, Adam Elsbernd said he traveled nearly two miles to toss his trash at 2 a.m. to beat the daytime heat. His chair even died after the drive to the dump, forcing him to call his wife to help him home.
"We don't have an adapted vehicle. We don't have a truck to put garbage with maggots and stuff inside of it because you guys don't want to pick it up," Elsbernd said.
His target is one of four temporary dumpsters set up by the City of Fairfield to help neighbors with the dirty dilemma.
Trash has been left uncollected for two weeks amid the ongoing sanitation worker strike nationwide.
"It's not just about the unions and wanting more money. It's about the people having to deal with garbage in their city," Elsbernd said. "We pay for a service. We are forced to pay for a service living in a city. Now, we have to haul our garbage to a park? A lot of us can't do it."
Even with no confirmed date for full trash services to resume, the city is asking neighbors to keep putting their trash containers out as normal.
Republic Services is sending some workers from other areas to help pick up trash.
"I think what we are trying to get answers to now today is, what can we do?" Elsbernd said.
However, Elsbernd remains critical that the negotiations, even if successful, could impact customers down the line.
"It's going to come out of our pockets at the end of the day when they raise our rates," he said.
There is no new date scheduled for negotiations to pick back up.
