Changes to Tulsa's residential trash system

[rdj]

I have a 96 gallon trash container and once a week service as a resident of the NW Quadrant.  Prior to my current home I lived in midtown with twice a week service.  I find my current service to be vastly superior to the service the rest of the city receives.  I don't wake up in the morning or come home from the office to blown over cans, no varmit issues, trash doesn't blow around on windy days and my seven year old son has been able to wheel the container up my sloping driveway for at least eighteen months.  I participate in voluntary recycling and fill up several bins twice a week.  I'm excited about the larger recycling cart.  My cart doesn't take up more space than my three cans did at my old home.  The new recycling bin will take up more space than my existing set up but I'm okay with that.

This is a great move and I'm proud of the volunteer committee, trash board and the city council for doing the right thing in the face of plentiful criticism.  I don't normally feel this way, but this was a situation where the bureaucrats knew what was best for the city even if the a vocal portion of the citizenry didn't.

[carltonplace]

Do we turn in our existing recycle bin(s) or do we keep them?

[PonderInc]

That really hasn't bothered me to pay the $2.00 and use the two recycle bins from the city I've got.  If you saw our house footprint, you'd understand why a 96 gallon bin presents a logistical issue for us in terms of storage.  If I keep it in the back yard, no real issue until after a large rain and I've got to navigate a muddy path getting it to the curb.  But with 96 gallons, if I miss one collection chances are it will eventually be dry enough to roll it down to the curb.  We've got an area which is too shady for bermuda to grow but a total PITA to keep watered for fescue to grow and someone is too cheap at this point to spring for river rock

If you live in Lortondale, you could always use the recycle bin for extra closet/storage space....

[Conan71]

If you live in Lortondale, you could always use the recycle bin for extra closet/storage space....

Shhhhhhh!

Hey, wait!  It would make a great laundry hamper or cat trap!

[PonderInc]

They did a segment on the news last night about what a FAIL the 96 gallon recycling cart is especially for the elderly.  As we have no garage, I'm more than a little concerned where the 96 gallon recycle cart and 64 gallon trash cart are going to reside.

Hey Conan!  They feel your lack of storage space pain!

According to the Tulsa World "Trash Board Says Smaller Recycling Carts May Be Offered"
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=593&articleid=20120530_11_A9_Tulsas360022

From the article:
"Of the two comments we are hearing the most," Lee said, "it's either 'I can't handle that' or 'I can't fit that inside my garage or my backyard, wherever.' It's a dimensional issue."

So, Conan, I guess you aren't the only one suffering from an...uh..."dimensional issue."   

[Hoss]

Hey Conan!  They feel your lack of storage space pain!

According to the Tulsa World "Trash Board Says Smaller Recycling Carts May Be Offered"
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=593&articleid=20120530_11_A9_Tulsas360022

From the article:
"Of the two comments we are hearing the most," Lee said, "it's either 'I can't handle that' or 'I can't fit that inside my garage or my backyard, wherever.' It's a dimensional issue."

So, Conan, I guess you aren't the only one suffering from an...uh..."dimensional issue."   

And of course, reading the comments in that section is a little like driving by a car wreck.  You don't want to look but can't avert your eyes.  Some people suffer from 'Ron White Syndrome' in this town.

"You can't fix stupid".

[RecycleMichael]

At least one of those posters used to post on this forum..

We have standards.

[dbacks fan]

Is this our recycling cart?

Is that the 64 gallon? The ones that I had in Phoenix were a little taller I think. The total bill that I had for trash/recycle, water and sewer ran about $45.00/month. Fortunately my house had a six foot privacy wall, and I paid for the wall, gate and a side garage door so that they were kept in the side yard and hidden from the street so the HOA Nazi's wouldn't complain, and I did not have to keep it in the garage. Pick up schedule was once a week for each, and we never had a problem with any smell from the trash, even in the furnace of July and August.

[DTowner]

At the risk of wading into anything related to changes to the trash system, I am surprised by the size of the recycling cart as compared to the current bins.  I'm not the most diligent recycler, but I recycle pretty much all glass, all newspapers, most cans, and some cardboard.  Even so, my bin is only barely full every two weeks (unless I have a party and generate a lot of, um, glass bottles). 

I think a giant container could dissuade a lot of folks from recycling just because they don't want to mess with another large container or have no place to store it.  I'm still struggling to figure out where I'm going to put the trash container since none of three sizes will fit in the "trash closet" I had constructed during a remodel.  If the goal is to encourage more voluntary recycling, a large container may have the unintended opposite effect.

[shadows]

The government has been subsidizing the cost of your trash pick up for some time and that has kept the price artificially low. Also low trash generators (like me with one bag per week) have been subsidizing high volume producers. Now we are moving to pay per use. My cost is about $1.17 more per month with the middle sized cart.

Pray tell how the trash board accumulated a ten million dollars surplus by subsidizing the present trash pickup. 

This is the typical reason all representative governments, based on the fundamentals of self government disappear when government assumes the identity of a personal ruler.     

[RecycleMichael]

... based on the fundamentals of self government disappear when government assumes the identity of a personal ruler.   

We live in a democratic society and use a republican system of governance. True self-government doesn't exist in modern society. It hasn't for hundreds of years (or as long as you have been alive, whichever is longer).

[shadows]

We live in a democratic society and use a republican system of governance. True self-government doesn't exist in modern society. It hasn't for hundreds of years (or as long as you have been alive, whichever is longer).

Old Tom Jefferson just turned over in his grave when he heard that democracy had prevailed here by establishing a government of mob rule.

[carltonplace]

Pray tell how the trash board accumulated a ten million dollars surplus by subsidizing the present trash pickup. 

This is the typical reason all representative governments, based on the fundamentals of self government disappear when government assumes the identity of a personal ruler.     

shady, you know where the surplus came from. Trash to Energy ring a bell? The surplus was used for the subsidy.

Personally I can think of many better uses for that amount of money.

[Hoss]

Just a reminder...today is the last day to pre-order your service/cart size with the city.

http://knowyourtrash.com

Or you can call 918.596.9777

This has been my PSA for the day.

Carry on.

[RecycleMichael]

It is great that they let you pick your trash. I picked Kim Kardashian.