Mary McAllister returned to the Board of Health Tuesday night with a simple request: Warn residents before someone else gets hurt.
The 77-year-old Jersey Street resident told board members she suffered serious injuries after falling into one of the town’s new 95-gallon recycling carts earlier this month and said she hopes her experience will prompt the town to better educate residents about safely moving the bins.
“I’m not here to blame anybody here,” McAllister told the board. “The main focus is that we get the word out that these can be dangerous so this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
McAllister first spoke to the Board of Health several weeks ago, when residents raised concerns about the size of the town’s new recycling and trash carts. Tuesday marked her second appearance before the board.
She recounted how she was moving her neighbor’s recycling cart about five feet after it had been emptied and left at the bottom of her driveway.
“The barrel tipped toward me,” she said. “I stepped on the lid and went flying into the barrel.”
McAllister said she suffered a bloody nose, hit her head and replacement knee, and crushed her hand between the cart’s handle and the body of the bin.
“I was now in the barrel with this hand between the handle and the barrel, with the full weight of the barrel and my weight on it,” she said. “I couldn’t extract myself.”
Neighbors came to her aid, called 911 and helped free her before police, firefighters and EMTs arrived.
McAllister spent more than five hours at the hospital, where doctors performed a CT scan and three X-rays. She said she is still recovering and appeared before the board with two black eyes from the fall.
She said she later discovered a warning printed on the cart advising users not to move it with the lid open but argued the text is too small for most residents to notice.
“Did any of you know that there was a warning on the barrels not to move them without closing the lids?” she asked the board. “Most people did not read that.”
McAllister said she has since found videos online showing similar accidents involving the same style of wheeled bins.
Rather than seeking compensation, she urged the town to launch a public awareness campaign through the town website and emergency notification system.
“I’m sorry it happened to me,” she said. “But I’d rather have it happen to me than somebody who’s less fit, who really could have a serious injury.”
Board member Dr. Alison Ritvo expressed sympathy and asked her colleagues if they could publicize the safety warning.
“I think it’s worth considering putting it on the (town) website,” she suggested.
Health Director Andrew Petty also addressed concerns about requests for smaller recycling carts, which many residents have sought since the automated collection program began July 1.
Petty said the town has received about 400 requests for smaller carts but initially received only 180 from the manufacturer.
“We’re waiting on the delivery of the remaining barrels,” Petty said. “Once we receive those, we’ll begin the distribution process.”
He said residents who requested a smaller cart should have received an automatic email confirming their request and said the Health Department will notify residents when replacement carts are available.
McAllister also told the board she was upset no one contacted her after she emailed the Health Department following her accident.
“I did send that email and nobody reached out to me,” she said. “That was disappointing.”
