The pandemic has put the brakes on curbside recycling, resulting in drop-off locations that are overflowing.  

Boardman Park is using social media to ask residents not to drop off or dump recyclables when containers are full.

Austintown began installing gates last week to close access to its dropoff site at the 9-11 Memorial Park, from Saturday evenings through Sunday. 

Lou Vega, the administrator of the Mahoning County Green Team, tells 21 News the problem is happening at its most-used sites.

He suggests taking recyclables Tuesday through Friday, as well as Saturday prior to evening hours.

He says Sunday and early Monday are generally bad times to drop off, as there's no service on Sundays at all. 

"I don't recommend people go on Sunday," Vega said. "Again, there is no service and if the sites are filled we encourage you to take your stuff back home or find another site. We absolutely do not encourage people to leave stuff outside the containers or it will start blowing around and becoming blight for the neighboring community."

The waste company that picks up the items is closed on Sundays, along with a site that accepts items to be recycled. 

The problem worsened when Republic Waste suspended curbside service due to this pandemic in efforts to protect employees, who handle over 750 curbside receptacles a day.

"It's important for those workers to be able to go home to their families safely," Vega emphasized.

Republic Waste has increased the number of days they empty containers at the most popular sites to six days a week.

Even still, people are being asked to do their part, and be respectful of the locations set up to accept their recyclable materials.

Vega added, "We will know more by next week when the curbside program is going to resume, and we hope to be giving some kind of update to Mahoning residents by then."