Betty Schrader was wondering Monday whether the AARDS Home-Business Trash Service containers that line her rural road would soon have to be hauled to the dump.

The Douglas County resident was wondering, too, if she should start looking for another trash hauler.

“I thought we’d get some kind of communication,” Schrader said Monday after reading in the Journal-World that AARDS had shut down. “I’m upset that I’m out that money. And I’m also upset that they just stopped. They didn’t even give us a chance.”

AARDS, based in Topeka, ceased operation Friday, citing competition, personnel problems and a $1.5 million lawsuit related to a fatal accident involving one of its trucks.

That left its estimated 6,100 customers holding the bag and wondering what to do. In Shawnee County, the county refuse department said it would pick up trash next week from AARDS customers.

For customers in Douglas County, though, no answers were forthcoming Monday, as owner Ray Cunningham was not available for comment via telephone. A message from Cunningham on the company answering machine, however, said the company would continue to run as many routes as he had employees to maintain. The company’s usual schedule called for seven routes per day, six days a week.

The message blames the loss of employees for the shutdown and asks customers “to please be patient with us.”

“Because we’ve had so many calls,” the message concludes, “we are going to leave this message at this time.”

Schrader, whose home is three miles south of Lawrence, said she doubted AARDS’ scaled-back service would include her route. She was looking for a new trash service.

“I’m wondering who to call,” Schrader said. “Do I just open a phone book and throw a dart?”

Schrader and other Douglas County residents don’t have a county refuse service to fall back on. Rhonda Young, administrative clerk at the City of Lawrence Solid Waste Division, said she received at least 10 calls from Douglas County AARDS customers wanting advice.

Bob Yoos, city solid waste manager, said the only thing he could do for rural residents was offer names of companies that provided service. He recommended Douglas County residents find a new service as soon as possible.

Trash hauling problems are not new for many county residents. In spring 1999, as many as 4,000 customers of Midway USA Service were juggled between a handful of haulers for a few months until Waste Management of Topeka took over the accounts of the company in July 1999.

As for Schrader, she figures she’s simply out the money she paid for a year’s service when she signed on with AARDS in March. And she was worried about something else, too.

“I don’t know what to do with the trash containers,” Schrader said of the receptacles provided by Cunningham’s company.