Some Kewaneeans have had complaints about aspects of the trash and recycling pickup service provided by LRS Waste Management Services in the few months it’s been here.

While more than half of the people responding to a recent Kewanee Voice survey described the company’s service favorably, more than 30 percent of the respondents had a lower opinion.

Some residents have expressed concerns about not having their materials picked up at the same time every week, or about being missed altogether.

Similar problems have been reported recently in Annawan, which has been an LRS customer since 2022.

Annawan’s city clerk, Annette Morosko, said Thursday that the LRS service had been good until last fall, but there have been some issues recently.

“They started out very well,” Morosko said, “but the service seemed to decline” since LRS took on the Kewanee contract. “The big thing is people being missed,” she said.

Morosko said LRS seems to have trouble finding enough workers to do the job in Annawan. “The help is the biggest issue,” she said.

Like Kewanee, Annawan formerly had trash and recycling pickup handled by its public works employees. And like Kewanee, Morosko said, Annawan went with LRS rather than replacing their two garbage trucks, which had reached the end of their useful lives.

She had praise for the customer service LRS provides. Customers with issues with the service can call a help center in Monmouth to report their problem. “The girls in Monmouth are awesome,” Morosko said.

The city of Monmouth also contracts with LRS for garbage pickup. LRS does not handle their recycling service.

“They’ve been doing a pretty decent job,” said Melissa Teel, Monmouth’s deputy city clerk.

Teel said there are occasional “bumps in the road,” but overall, the service is satisfactory.

A couple of residents have spoken at City Council meetings in Kewanee to express concerns over such things as varying pickup times, residents being missed altogether by the pickups and trash being scattered along the street after the LRS trucks come through.

Online complaints have been numerous, prompting Mayor Gary Moore to invite residents with any concerns about their service to attend Monday’s City Council meeting.