By the end of October, all Birmingham residents should have their new 96-gallon trash cart, the city says. As the third and final phase of trash cart delivery comes to a close, so too does the grace period on the city’s new trash regulations according to Rick Journey, Birmingham’s director of communications.

“From the pilot to Phase 1 and Phase 2, there was a brief grace period while residents adjusted to the new schedule,” Journey said. “In each launch, DPW [Department of Public Works] saw nearly universal compliance within a few weeks. It will be the same for Phase 3 once deliveries are complete and the system launches. Once Phase 3 begins, all single-family residences in the city will be under the same system.”

Changes to the city’s trash system include dropping down to once weekly pickups, only collecting garbage if it is in the city-issued cans, only collecting garbage from in front of houses, and shifting to a fully automated pickup system. Journey added that while some neighborhoods may still be seeing workers getting off the trucks to collect garbage manually, this will also come to an end in the upcoming month.

“DPW is shifting to an automated system once the Phase 3 delivery is complete and the Phase 3 start date begins,” he said.

The $6.5 million program, announced by the city last August, continues to receive mixed reviews from Birmingham residents as 60,000 trash carts have been equally dispersed among local neighborhoods in each phase. A majority of public concern is centered around how to get the large new carts to where they need to go for pickup, especially in Birmingham’s hillier historic neighborhoods.