(WTTW News)

For decades, residents roused from their sleep by privately-owned garbage and recycling trucks violating the city’s quiet hours haven’t had a clear pathway to file a complaint and stop the din.

But a new 311 noise complaint category specifically aimed at catching private haulers flouting the law is live – and the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation can use those complaints to demand data from companies to prove whether they made unlawful pickups.

Since last June, WTTW News has been covering garbage companies picking up outside the 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. quiet hours. On early morning reporting trips, a reporter spotted Groot, Lakeshore Recycling, and Republic Services making runs before 7 a.m. WTTW News also obtained years’ worth of complaints, with Flood Brothers and Waste Management also being frequently cited. Despite exhausted, desperate Chicagoans contacting 311, 911, aldermanic offices and Streets and San, sanitation scofflaws were rarely punished.

A measure aimed at curbing the problem cleared the city council nearly a year ago.

Sponsor Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st Ward) told WTTW News at the time that violators “might get a scolding call from someone at Streets and Sanitation, but then a few weeks later, they’re back at the same old thing because there is no real meaningful penalty or enforcement mechanism.”

The successful ordinance he backed grants citation writing power for illegal pickups to Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation, and mandates that private trash haulers turn over their GPS and other electronic tracking data for truck routes so city staffers can monitor and punish pre-dawn garbage pickups. Violations start at $500 and go up to $1,000.

Getting the new 311 code and data tracking mechanism up and running took some time – WTTW News reported in June that in the eight months since the ordinance was first approved, Streets and San had yet to write a ticket, despite plenty of complaints still coming in.

The new service request category “Noise Complaint – Garbage Truck (Private Vendor)” is now up and running. Residents can call 311 or visit 311.chicago.gov.

Contact Nick Blumberg: [email protected] | (773) 509-5434 | @ndblumberg