WATERLOO - The city has slammed the lid on overfilled garbage containers.

Waterloo City Council members voted 5-1 Monday to adopt an ordinance declaring it a nuisance for residents to stuff their curbside garbage container so the lid won't close.

The ordinance change, which goes into effect following its publication in several weeks, also bans commercial Dumpsters at businesses and apartment buildings from being overstuffed or having garbage strewn around the ground outside the container.

Councilman Quentin Hart cast the lone vote against the ordinance, while Councilman Steve Schmitt was absent.

"I supported most of the changes," Hart said. "I just had a lot of citizens call about the (container lid) opening and concerned about what happens to all the extra garbage around the holidays."

Council members received a formal letter from a resident objecting to the ordinance as a financial burden on some customers, but no one appeared in person in opposition and the measure generated little discussion at the council table.

The measure was brought up based on concerns from residents whose neighbors' open garbage containers attracted rodents and birds.

While the adopted ordinance requires lids to be closed on the cans, Councilman Harold Getty said he didn't expect truck drivers to be turning in cans with the lids barely cracked open.

"The only thing they're concerned about is if the lids are wide open and two or three bags are stuck on top and the birds are getting in them," Getty said. "If you need a bigger container, get a bigger container."

The city, as it has since volume-based garbage collection was adopted in the early 1990s, still provides residents with five free stickers which can be placed on a garbage bag that is set on top of the closed container for collection. Those are available at the City Clerk's Office in City Hall and were designed as a method to handle overflow holiday waste.

The ordinance allows the city to bill a property owner for the cost of cleaning up a container or Dumpster declared a nuisance, including landfill fees. A second violation in a calendar year includes a $100 administrative penalty.

Also, at the request of downtown property owners, it is now illegal for people to sift through someone else's Dumpster.