SOAP LAKE — The Soap Lake City Council changed an ordinance on what garbage cans can be used.

Ordinance 8.08.030 stated garbage had to be stored in portable metal cans. The council changed the ordinance to include other approved containers.

“There were questions about that in the past,” Mayor Wayne Hovde said.

Acceptable garbage cans must have two handles, one on either side of the can, he said.

“There are some cans that are made with indents on either side,” Hovde said. “Those are not acceptable, and they won’t be approved because they’re not a handle.”

Councilmember Barney Berg said he tested different garbage cans, and found he wasn’t able to pick up cans without handles.

“I did that in the snow and ice,” he said. “I did it with my bare hands and I did it with gloves. (With) gloved hands, it was almost impossible because of the bulkiness of my gloves prevented my hand from getting in there and grabbing that area … With my (bare) hands, it was a matter of trying to pick the thing up and dump it into a garbage truck and my hand slipped out.”

Hovde said another concern is when the workers need to pick up cans with indentations in them, they would need to stick their hand inside of the garbage can.

“We don’t want them sticking their hands inside the garbage can,” he said.

To find out whether the garbage can is approved, people can contact Darrin Fronsman, Soap Lake’s public works supervisor at 509-246-1823.