Rolling Carts for Recyclables

UPDATE- Results of negotiations for recycling carts would have increased costs over double digits so we simply renewed our existing contract for 3 more years with simple increases for inflation. I will look for opportunities in future to still get the carts.... Stay tuned.

Several months ago when we gave our staff direction for waste hauling negotiation with Violia, we asked if we could get rolling recycling carts that have lids on them. After the first round of talks Violia was willing to give us free carts if we changed our pickup location to the street for recyclables only. Regular garbage would still be picked up behind the home.

At the last meeting the Council directed staff to look for a program from Violia that would furnished free 65 gal carts for recycling that could be rolled to the street for free or still could be picked up at the top of drive for a small monthly fee. We have had many recyclables blow all over town and the wheeled carts have lids that will prevent that from occurring. We have also been told by waste haulers and SWALCO that these bins will increase recyclables. By offering a larger more convenient container we think we can get our recycling citizens to put more recyclables in for pick up.

The funny thing is on my block of St. Johns everybody but me already puts their recycling on the street. You see people are so excited about their recyclables that they can’t wait to display them even though it is picked up for free at the top of their drive…….

We also are structuring the pricing to encourage citizens to buy stickers and pay as you go. Currently about half our citizens use the pure volume based sticker system. Sticker purchasing saves citizens money and gives an incentive to reduce waste because you only will pay for the garbage that gets picked up. So when you go on vacation or use two cans or less per week you save money by buying stickers. Once a week subscription costs more than 2 stickers per week. The fee for a twice a week subscription will cost double the price of once a week.

We will be following a strict VOLUME BASED system so less garbage will always means less costs and more garbage will always mean more costs.

Also please note we are in negotiations with the hauler which might turn into putting this whole thing out to bid. We are also having ongoing discussions within the City Council so we have not made any final decisions.

Call me with any thoughts.... 847-456-6933