Changes to Tulsa's residential trash system

[shadows]

Why I do believe you have gotten the vapors!

...
Once a person has entered the sacred doors of the sanctuary of city hall and get whiff of the pink gas they pledge themselves to never leave,

[Townsend]

Per KTUL twitter:

BREAKING: Tulsa Recycle & Transfer at 1150 N Peoria evacuated for garbage on fire in building. Crew en route.

[heironymouspasparagus]

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[carltonplace]

I heard today that a new citizen's group has been formed to trash this change to our..uh...trash system.

How do we form a a citizen's group in favor of this change?

[Hoss]

I heard today that a new citizen's group has been formed to trash this change to our..uh...trash system.

How do we form a a citizen's group in favor of this change?

Discussion about that is here (the group, not how to join).  FWIU, it's just three or four people right now and looks a little sketchy.  Why would you wait this long if you had issues.  It's not like this hasn't been talked about now for over a year and half.  Some people are just too lazy to attend meetings.



Oh, wait, I see what you did there.

[godboko71]

From what I saw on the news I don't understand there argument. How did citizens not have input? I am pretty sure there where meetings. I also seem to remember that the City Council had to approve parts of the change, I seem to remember electing said City Council so we did vote for the change in a way anyway.

[Hoss]

From what I saw on the news I don't understand there argument. How did citizens not have input? I am pretty sure there where meetings. I also seem to remember that the City Council had to approve parts of the change, I seem to remember electing said City Council so we did vote for the change in a way anyway.

It's all grandstanding.

There is a part of this right now though that I am a little upset at, and that's the forcing of us to initially have the 95 gallon carts.  I think most residents are smart enough to be able to know how to estimate their trash usage and ask for a bin accordingly.  This equates to a money grab in my opinion.  Government services like this are supposed to work for the people, not the other way around.

[shadows]

It's all grandstanding.

There is a part of this right now though that I am a little upset at, and that's the forcing of us to initially have the 95 gallon carts.  I think most residents are smart enough to be able to know how to estimate their trash usage and ask for a bin accordingly.  This equates to a money grab in my opinion.  Government services like this are supposed to work for the people, not the other way around.

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You missed the change of Tulsa when a city of "government of the people" changed to" the people of government". The article in the TW today seems to offer a more equitable rate structure in BA than has been offered by the new trash board.  The contract with the new hauler should be published to let the citizens know what to expect under the new system.
Then also with tongue in cheek the article expresses that the time in running the routes will increase.
If one observes the present operation in BA the bags are loaded and the truck is gone in 20 seconds.  When you can find drivers that can position a truck to pick up a cart equipped with mechanical arms that will function within 60 seconds you will only increase the operation by some 66.6 %.
Tulsa's new trash board should enter a contract with the citizens on a five year basis; detailing the actual cost they will be charged.  These presumptions of possible cost should have been eliminated.   
BA has the most efficient and economical trash pickup than any other city in this area. Of course this can be attributed much to the influx of the money people and intelligence that comes with it.   The salesmen of carts and trucks are working overtime to make another pig in the poke operation look good to its citizens.  The present system is not broken.
The salesmen of trash carts are sure smiling and looking at brochures  of south sea tours.               

[AquaMan]

Did you just equate intelligence with Broken Arrow? I'm experiencing a little cognitive dissonance at the thought. My son lives in OKC and is always surprised at how behind we are in recycling and trash pickup systems and wonders why its at all controversial. So do I.  Theirs is foolproof. You fill one cart with trash, another with recyclables and roll them to the curb where a mechanized arm on a truck picks them up and moves along. If its a big item you put it on the curb. You get a bill.

I thought we had this cart system operating in areas of Tulsa for a few years now. Its no big technological or physical leap of intelligence to operate these cart lifts. Dumpster systems work in a similar fashion, and very quickly. Must we complain about everything?

[TeeDub]

The bag system works great in BA.   You put your trash in a (city provided) bag, put it on the curb and it goes away.   If you want to recycle there are plenty of recycling places for you to take your trash to.


I don't understand why people feel the need to try to force carts onto everyone else.

[RecycleMichael]

The bags in Broken Arrow are expensive. The workers have to bend over and pick up bags that weigh as much as 40 pounds. There are many back injuries. The number of stops per day is limited because of the strain on the workforce.

Broken Arrow has been saying they are moving toward carts for trash collection. I think that is the right decision for the future.

Almost every city in America has changed to their collections to include carts. There must be many reasons why.

[TeeDub]

The bags in Broken Arrow are expensive. The workers have to bend over and pick up bags that weigh as much as 40 pounds. There are many back injuries. The number of stops per day is limited because of the strain on the workforce.

Broken Arrow has been saying they are moving toward carts for trash collection. I think that is the right decision for the future.

Almost every city in America has changed to their collections to include carts. There must be many reasons why.

The bags are paid for in my trash rate.   Buying bulk for 100,000 residents should get you some sort of discount.

As for workers, like any industry, they should be given the proper tools to do the job and told to lift with the knees, not the back.   (I have a hard time believing most trash bags would hold up to 40 lbs of trash without ripping.)  As for the "limited number of stops,"  what kind of argument is that?   Regardless of the limit they give city wide trash service twice a week.

[Hoss]

The bags are paid for in my trash rate.   Buying bulk for 100,000 residents should get you some sort of discount.

As for workers, like any industry, they should be given the proper tools to do the job and told to lift with the knees, not the back.   (I have a hard time believing most trash bags would hold up to 40 lbs of trash without ripping.)  As for the "limited number of stops,"  what kind of argument is that?   Regardless of the limit they give city wide trash service twice a week.

Given RM's background, I think I'm going to defer to him on this subject.

[RecycleMichael]

The bags are paid for in my trash rate.   Buying bulk for 100,000 residents should get you some sort of discount.

As for workers, like any industry, they should be given the proper tools to do the job and told to lift with the knees, not the back.   (I have a hard time believing most trash bags would hold up to 40 lbs of trash without ripping.)  As for the "limited number of stops,"  what kind of argument is that?   Regardless of the limit they give city wide trash service twice a week.

Broken Arrow trash rates are $25 a year higher than Tulsa's rates because of those bags. What "tools" do you think they could use to pick up bags off the ground? Number of stops directly affects efficiency and thus rates. 100 less houses per day per route requires an extra truck and crew for a town of the size of Broken Arrow.

I am sure that Broken Arrow residents will whine when they lose their free bags. It is a great benefit and easy on the users. But the handlers are struggling and costs are soaring. Broken Arrow leaders are trying to keep rates as low as possible while also protecting their workers.  

[swake]

This is so stupid. Jenks and probably most of the suburbs have used the carts for years and really it's a lot better than when I lived in Tulsa. There are no cans and trash blowing up and down the street from cans without lids and bags ripped open by animals. The carts are far easier to move then the old cans you would buy at the hardware store. It's been my son's job to take the cart to the curb since he was like 8 and he rarely needs help. If the cart on wheels is too much trouble for $5 a month they will take it from the side of the house for you. Trash collection takes minutes for my whole street with two or three guys running (yes running) next to the trucks taking carts off the curbs and returning them. The trucks have loaders that lift and empty the carts.  There's no bags that rip open and spill trash everywhere when the garbage men toss the bags into the trucks. Carts are cleaner, easier and apparently cheaper. What's the problem besides that Tulsans seem to just have to b!tch and moan about everything the city does?

I would love Jenks to add a second cart for recycling. The Tulsa plan actually sounds better than what we have in Jenks. I simply can't understand people fighting this.