Molok supporters rally to revive underground trash collection program in Raleigh

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Supporters hoping to save an underground trash collection program in Raleigh rallied on Monday.

After spending more than $30,000, the City of Raleigh decided to pause its pilot Molok program on August 13.

The program included the installation of six high-capacity underground waste collection containers, called Molocks. Those containers were meant to replace downtown Raleigh trash carts.

The Molok containers, which are three feet above ground and five feet under, hold the equivalent of 20 trash cans, and are billed as environmentally-alternative options which cut down the amount of time that trucks and crews need to spend on the streets.

However, downtown property owners complained that people were routinely dumping trash into the system right at their business's front door.

Since the program was paused, more than 1,500 people signed a petition on Change.org to get the program started back up.

"Let's get all the stakeholders in together and let's work out something," John Pugh said. "This isn't rocket science, and we can come up with a really cool solution. But to do that, we need to have some leadership step up."

Evelyn Briggs Davis, owner of Briggs Hardware, told ABC11 on Monday that the heat of the summer is usually the worst time of the year.

She's used to overflowing trash carts lining the sidewalk outside her store. Not this year, though, she says.

"It's the first summer that we haven't had a bad smell in the store, there have not been flies in the store," she said.

She's one of the 1,500 who signed a petition asking council to save them.