OAKLAND -- Both sides in a trash company labor dispute resumed talks Sunday in an effort to resolve a three-week lockout that has some residents raising a stink over uncollected garbage.

Officials with Waste Management have hired replacement drivers since locking out 480 drivers July 2 and say they are close to getting pickups back on schedule.

But city officials and residents of Oakland and other cities in the east San Francisco Bay area say trash has been left curbside. Besides Oakland, affected cities include Emeryville, Albany, Castro Valley, Hayward, Newark, and parts of San Leandro and San Lorenzo.

Peter Maloney of Castro Valley said his garbage was picked up July 5, but "we haven't seen hair nor hide of any drivers" since then. He said he has called and e-mailed Waste Management but received only automated replies that trucks would come.

He heard a trash truck on the next street Thursday morning, but that was as close as it got.

"I'm frustrated, but I don't know who to yell at," he said. "I've exhausted all the calm resources."

Waste Management of Alameda County said they locked out drivers because of rumors the members of Teamsters Local 70 were about to strike.

Oakland city officials won a court order last week forcing the company to pick up garbage. The city plans to return to court Tuesday to ask a judge to declare Waste Management in contempt of his order.

Waste Management spokesman David Tucker said both sides went back to the negotiating table Sunday. Officials have declined comment on the talks because of a federal mediator's gag order. Sticking points include penalties for drivers' safety violations, a no-strike provision and increasing health care costs.

On Saturday, area lawmakers went to 34th Street in Oakland, where some garbage remained uncollected, to announce an emergency bill, introduced Friday, that would allow cities to declare a public health emergency and pick up trash themselves or hire another contractor and be reimbursed by the original contractor.

Oakland is trying to bring in another contractor.

"It is unacceptable to have garbage in the streets of a city where rats, insects and smells can create a public health danger," said Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, one of the bill's authors.