Once a week trash pickup

[sgrizzle]

Note sure how RM hasn't posted this already:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=071105_1_A19_hTras37046

quote:
Once-a-week refuse pickup

by: BRIAN BARBER World Staff Writer
11/5/2007

Trash tryout a success: Cart-based, once-a-week garbage collection may eventually go citywide.

The success of a pilot trash program that has converted five Tulsa collection routes to a once-a-week, cart-based service could lead to a switch for the entire city.

Tulsa's trash board intends to ask the City Council this month to remove the six-month time limit along with the cap on the number of participants from the pilot program ordinance.

That will allow the program to continue in the pilot areas and additional routes to be added.

Eventually, a plan to change all twice-a-week service routes to the new once-a-week service by 2011 is expected to be presented to the council.

"I really think this is the future of Tulsa's trash collection," said Joe Moran, chairman of the Tulsa Authority for the Recovery of Energy.

The program was launched last summer with 1,855 participating households in the areas of South Peoria Avenue, Swan Lake, Florence Park North, Sheridan Hills South and Florence Park South.

Each residence was provided with one 96-gallon, wheeled trash cart and an 18-gallon recycling bin. Smaller sizes of carts also were available.

The monthly curbside service fee for the program is $12.52, which includes recycling pickup regardless of whether the customer chooses to recycle.

By comparison, the fee for the city's standard twice-a-week curbside service is $13.44, plus a $2 optional recycling charge, and customers have to provide their own trash carts.

Responses to a survey in four of the pilot program areas show that 78 percent like the new service and 69 percent said it encouraged them to recycle more. The area of Florence Park South will be surveyed in December.

"We're very pleased with the results," said Frank Erwin, the Public Works Department's field customer services manager. "Once people gave it a chance, they liked it."

Erwin said most areas of the country are going toward this type of service.

Some of the benefits include reducing by half the wear and tear on city streets by garbage trucks, he said.

Also, the carts prevent worker injuries because they are mechanically dumped and control litter better with their closeable tops.

The routes selected for the pilot program were based on the willingness of customers to participate and the trash haulers who wanted to equip their trucks with lifters.

Most of the city's trash collection -- about 91,000 households -- is contracted with Tulsa Refuse Inc., a consortium of independent haulers.

That area has the twice-a-week service that the authority hopes to change.

A small segment of Tulsa known as the northwest quadrant -- with 25,000 households -- is serviced by city employees and already has once-a-week, cart-based service.

Cheryl Cohenour, who heads up the authority's long-range planning committee, said it has been the panel's goal to adopt a uniform service across the city.

"We're going to have to do a lot of education to get people prepared," she said. "Change can be difficult. But these survey results show it's possible."

[RecycleMichael]

The story didn't quote me...

This is a good idea. We really only need once-a-week trash and this will allow us to lower the rate and offer free recycling bins to every home.

I am certain that there are going to be some folk who demand that they be allowed to throw things away twice-a-week, but the limits won't change. It will still be unlimited residential trash disposal.

The rest of the country is going to once-a-week trash collection, we can too.

[sgrizzle]

Do you buy additional bins for extra trash or set it on the curb in bags?

[RecycleMichael]

They are giving out very nice 95 gallon rolling carts. You won't need to buy your own trash cans any more.

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by recyclemichael

They are giving out very nice 95 gallon rolling carts. You won't need to buy your own trash cans any more.

What if you throw out more than that?

I currently own 30 gallon trash cans... 7 of them.

I'm a pack rat, in recovery.

[RecycleMichael]

There will be provisions to get additional containers...but we need to talk.

Waste is a terrible thing to mind.

[dbacks fan]

$12.52/month is not a bad price for both garbage and recycle. When we first got our house here in Phoenix we had twice a week trash and no recycle. Once we got our recycle can our we had more recycled than trash.

[Steve]

I really have no problem with converting to once-a-week trash pickup with the 95-gallon rolling cart.  It would serve my household just fine.  I assume they would still allow the maximum of 6 bags of yard/landscape waste per pickup, or perhaps double that to 12 with only once a week service.

What does bother me is I see this as an example of continuing decline of city services at rising costs to the citizen.  When I was a young child in Tulsa, late 1950s-early 1960s, most families burned their trash in back yard trash burners.  That was banned, and rightly so.  Then in the 1960s the standard was twice a week, back yard trash service.  No one had to haul their trash to the curb.  The trash men would go into your back yard routinely and dispose of garbage, and our neighborhood streets were free of stray trash and neglected cans blowing around.  

Then in the 1970s, the standard became twice a week curb service and we now had to haul our cans to the curb.  OK, adjustments made.  Now, they want to cut that back to once a week.  What is next?  Will we have to haul our own trash to the dumps or a neighborhood drop off point ourselves and pay the City for the privilege?  I better keep my mouth shut; I wouldn't want to give the City any brilliant ideas.

[pmcalk]

I don't have a problem with once a week trash service (I usually forget the second day anyway), but will they bump up recycling to every week?  I don't like the twice monthly recycling, since I can never remember which week.  I often forget, then end up hauling tons of recycling to the curb the next go around.  I am concerned the image my neighbors might have when they see trash cans full of beer & wine bottles.

[RecycleMichael]

Yes. The new proposed service levels are one and one..One day a week for trash and one day a week for recycling. Ideally, many neighborhoods will have the same day for both.

[mrsgrizzle]

That's great - we often end up recycling every OTHER time they come around because we also forget. Having it weekly would be nice.

[swake]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

I really have no problem with converting to once-a-week trash pickup with the 95-gallon rolling cart.  It would serve my household just fine.  I assume they would still allow the maximum of 6 bags of yard/landscape waste per pickup, or perhaps double that to 12 with only once a week service.

What does bother me is I see this as an example of continuing decline of city services at rising costs to the citizen.  When I was a young child in Tulsa, late 1950s-early 1960s, most families burned their trash in back yard trash burners.  That was banned, and rightly so.  Then in the 1960s the standard was twice a week, back yard trash service.  No one had to haul their trash to the curb.  The trash men would go into your back yard routinely and dispose of garbage, and our neighborhood streets were free of stray trash and neglected cans blowing around.  

Then in the 1970s, the standard became twice a week curb service and we now had to haul our cans to the curb.  OK, adjustments made.  Now, they want to cut that back to once a week.  What is next?  Will we have to haul our own trash to the dumps or a neighborhood drop off point ourselves and pay the City for the privilege?  I better keep my mouth shut; I wouldn't want to give the City any brilliant ideas.

We have the once a week service in Jenks, and for another four or five dollars they will come and get the container for you and return it so you don't have to be bothered.

[pmcalk]

So if we want the once a week service for our neighborhood, whom do we contact?

[RecycleMichael]

There is a pilot program going on in five neighborhoods of about 1900 homes.

The TARE board is going before the city council to ask for more time. I think it will show up on the committee agenda for next Tuesday.

If the council is OK with extending the program, it is just a matter of time before it is proposed to go citywide.

It will take a while to implement, adding three thousand homes a month will take about two and a half years to complete.

[Wingnut]

When I lived in Chandler, Az, they were going to implement recycling. They divided the city into quarters and determined that it would take 4 years to get recycling set up citywide. After about 3 months in the first section, the city found it was making money on the recycled products so they had the program set up and going citywide in 9 months.
Why would it take so long?

Also, we put all our recyclables in one big can, papers, glass, cans, etc, and it was sorted at the facility. It was also free.

Why do we have to pay and why can't we recycle all plastics?