Rural Garbage Service Mandatory ..

[LBrown59]

And even though the city had their own Sanitation Department and garbage trucks back then, instead of contracting with a private company, I contracted with a private company to provide dumpsters and pick up the garbage at the auto pound. As expected, I got a memo that some of the city council members wanted to know what I was doing contracting with a private company when the city had their own trucks. I sent back a short memo that the money came out of MY budget and the private company was cheaper than paying the other city department. I thought I'd open a can of worms and get something sensible done, but I never heard a word back.

This was 1 of my gripes with the city and their Mandatory trash collection here.
You had to buy from the Hauler the city dictated and weren't allowed to choose your own hauler even though there were 2 other good haulers in the area that charged less.
That's another flaw about forced trash collection/it stifles competition and without competition the other 2 companies folded thus creating a monopoly out of the 3rd company.
Now the company has us where they want us.
With no competition and a forced customer bases dictated by the city the sky is the limit for pick up rates.
And somebody on here couldn't see how such laws harm the innocent and someone one else says life's not fair so that makes things like this OK.

 

[QRTRHRS]

A couple of years ago, my weekly five bag limit trash pickup bill went to around a hundred a quarter so I stopped it. I have a transfer station about seven miles away where I can take it for a reasonable fee.

I fill 55 gallon drum liners with smaller 30 gallon bags until a I have a half a dozen or so depending on the season then I take them to the station. They do get nasty in the summer if I let them sit to long.

Though burning is discouraged by law, it really is not enforced for the most part. I have an old 275 gallon oil tank with a hole cut into it that I use to burn paper. I only burn when it is safe.

Magazines and catalogs go into recycling. I don't buy newspapers since most of them have free websites. The township has those blue boxes set up about a half a mile from me. I recycle glass and aluminum as well but slimy tin cans go into the garbage. Danged if I am going to wash tins out like some places want.

 

[MikePA]

And somebody on here couldn't see how such laws harm the innocent

If you don't like the way the contract is negotiated, go whine to your representatives, or maybe Amnesty
International. The city or township didn't grant themselves this power, the people granted it to them.

It's amazing. This country is so affluent, that people could actually call mandatory trash collection 'harming the innocent'. Yet the same people can't or wont understand their self centered act of burning trash also 'harms the innocent', their neighbor. Talk about no perspective. Good grief.

 

[jinman]

Jim, I'd start off burning a few in the gully to see what they do. If they just fizzled that would be good, if they take off in an unwanted direction that would not be good.

When I say recycle: at the same place we dump they have a recycle building for cans, glass, aluminum, (but I sell mine at another place), old oil, and paper. The only thing they do not take is plastic. I did find a place in Bryan but the logistics is usually not good so that is usually the bulk of my 3 bags.

Don, thanks for the advice. I don't really want to burn this thing. It's about 18" wide by 3-1/2 feet long and is loaded with roman candle sized rockets. Probably the best solution would be for me to soak it thoroughly with water and then bury it. The paper used in fireworks deteriorates very quickly. The natural moisture in the soil will also disperse the gun powder in the fireworks too. That way I can get rid of a hazard with the least amount of danger to other folks and their property. Next year I won't buy anything like this. My grandkids and I thought this would be fun, but it turned out to be a fizzle instead of a blast.

I was asking about recycling because you are in an area probably about the same as me from metro services. I feel like somebody will eventually figure out a way to really make money with recycled trash, but in the meantime, we have to look for ways to properly dispose of it. Certain items can be money-makers, but right now there seems to be more money in hauling trash than setting up a recycling operation for ALL trash.

Since this thread has wandered a ways away from just simple trash haul, does anyone know of a private company making good money on recycling ALL types of trash? Isn't this the ultimate solution to our trash problems? I think when somebody figures out how to make good money, there will be people knocking on our doors asking if we have any trash they can have.

 

[kenmac]

There have been some benifits( if you can call it that )from land fills as rotting trash has produced Nat. gas that is being used to fuel schools, businesses ,etc,

 

[LBrown59]

1*Not if you live downwind of someone burning plastics and anything else they can stuff in a 55 gallon drum.
2*Should I have to pay tax on a highway I will never use Should my tax money go towards stuff I won't benefit from?
3*Life isn't fair.

1*So get on the downwinders case but leave the upwinders and everyone else that has nothing to do with the problem alone.
2*This is not a tax it's about a city Gov forcing me to pay a private business and elimitaning my choice of who I can do business with.
3*I hate this cop out term.

 

[kenmac]

LBrown59,


Our city found that
If everyone on the street used a different company to pick up their trash .Trash pick up would cost more $ than it would to have 1 company pick up all the trash for that city's residents. While it's not mandontary here , most use the collection service rather than bother taking it to a land fill themselves. Our city also inacted a no burn oridance which no one liked at first, it has turned out for the better of all in the city

 

[Redbug]

Just to stir the pot a little more...Today's landfills are tomorrow's hazardous waste dumps...Glad we still have lots of money in the SuperFund!

 

[MikePA]

Today's landfills are tomorrow's hazardous waste dumps.

As regulated and inspected as landfills are these days, I highly doubt this.

If everyone on the street used a different company to pick up their trash .Trash pick up would cost more $ than it would to have 1 company pick up all the trash for that city's residents.

Now, Ken, don't go confusing some people with facts and logic.

While it's not mandontary here...

Whether it's mandatory or not is a clause in the contract. All the municipalities that go through this do it in public via a bid process. Anyone can comment on it. Everyone gets a lower price if it's mandatory because all the responders to the bid know how many guaranteed customers they will have. The problem comes in with people who don't like the democratic process where the majority rules.

In theory...

Lowest price per person - Mandatory with 1 company. Competitively bid contract.
Middle price per person - Non-mandatory with 1 company. Competitively bid contract.
Highest price per person - One company, no competitively bid contract.

 

[jimmer2880]

I would have to pay $40.00 per month for trash service, or pay $120.00 per year for the dump sticker. The dump sticker allows me to recycle tires, oil, anti-freeze, batteries, metal, propane tanks, etc as well. Since the dump is only a 5 minute drive, It's a no brainer for me.

I don't understand how it really costs that much. This isn't a transfer-station, but the actual dump. They are also very strict on what you can get rid of under the $120.00 dump sticker. Household trash only. Anything big, need to drive across the scales and pay per ton.

 

[LBrown59]

Where I live in rural PA, too often people move in from suburbs or cities to "get away from it all" but then object to the lack of the services they have been accustomed to. Garbage falls into this category. They want it to just "go away." They quicly begin to demand services and inevitably taxes rise, etc. etc. I'm perfectly happy with fewer services and less taxes. I recycle, and am careful about the packaging in the products I buy, and burn most of the rest. We maintain essential services such as fire and emergency on a volunteer basis. We don't need babysitting...

Translation penalizing the innocent by imposing on their rights.
== L B ==

 

[RobertN]

1*So get on the downwinders case but leave the upwinders and everyone else that has nothing to do with the problem alone.

You miss the point. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO GET ON THE DOWNWINDERS! They should not do it in the first place. Common courtesy. It aint so common any more. Golden rule, do unto others... I do not burn trash because A-it is illegal here, B-it stinks and that stinky smoke goes all over.

THAT, is why there are so many silly laws. Cause common sense, common courtesy, is not so common any more.

My neighbor two properties over got busted. I didn't turn him in, but should have. I think he thought I did, being a fireman and all. He was doing a remodel, and was burning the construction trash. Stunk to high heaven; glue and varnish and insulation and tar paper and other icky stuff. And, he KNEW better! He got a big fine, couldn't burn anything for a couple years.

I did give him hints; I anonymously left a couple burn fliers in his mail box, that outline what can/can't be burnt here, and how to find out if it is a burn day or not.

And, he is a heck of a nice guy. Real nice neighbor(has since moved, but was still a pretty good guy). But he still burned illegally. And, we have a dump/transfer only 5 miles away...

That is why some of us have strong opinions on this around here, at least IMHO

Maybe you are the great neighbor, who takes care with all this stuff, but there are too many who are not.

 

[LBrown59]

1*Used to use a burn barrel for all burnables but that ended when the state started paying people to snitch off burn barrels (see below on that one!)
2*RE: burn barrels. They are really down on them. To the point that you cannot burn _anything_ in them.
2*Last fall I had a batch of evergreen prunings - I could pile and burn them with no problem but "don't put 'em in a burn barrel"

Harry K

1*There no state or county ban on trash barrels here but the city has baned them.
2*Why what's their point/ objection?
3*What's any difference between that and a pit fireplace etc?

 

[LBrown59]

If you don't like the way the contract is negotiated, go whine to your representatives.

I don't live in town so i don't have anyone representing me there.
== L B ==.
P S
Just remembered I do have 2 friends that were just elected to city council.
Think That would help?

 

[MikePA]

I don't live in town so i don't have anyone representing me there.

If mandatory trash pickup doesn't affect you, why are you railing about it?

Think That would help?

No. Some things are beyond help.

 

[Bird]

I anonymously left a couple burn fliers in his mail box,

Did you know it was illegal for you to leave those in his mail box?

 

[RobertN]

Did you know it was illegal for you to leave those in his mail box?

I knew I used a small piece of duct tape, and stuck it on the front of the mail box. That way, it did not get mixed with junk mail etc, and they were sure to see it.

 

[kenmac]

I know this is off subject but,


per the post master .Once put up, A mail box is federal property. Fliers on or in a mail box is illegal. There was a company putting fliers on mail boxes in the neighborhood. Post man got them & turned them in.Per the post man. The company leaving the fliers on the mail boxes was fined

 

[kenmac]

Lowest price per person - Mandatory with 1 company. Competitively bid contract.
Middle price per person - Non-mandatory with 1 company. Competitively bid contract.
Highest price per person - One company, no competitively bid contract.




We/ I would be in the middle price

 

[MossRoad]

I don't live in town so i don't have anyone representing me there.
== L B ==.
P S
Just remembered I do have 2 friends that were just elected to city council.
Think That would help?

LB. I hafta agree with some of the other folks here. Burning trash is no longer socially acceptable and even if not illegal can be a major source of ill-will towards your neighbors, not to mention a huge source of air pollution. It is so obnoxiuos that people vote it out and elected officials uphold those bans. That is one of the reasons there is mandatory trash pickup. The only way to ensure that people are using mandatory trash pickup is to control the billing through a government agency... I.E. If they aren't using the trash pickup service, what are they doing with their trash?

It's one of those little annoyances of being a member of society. Sometimes, even though you are a good citizen and do all the right things, you still have to mandate stuff because so many people are doing the wrong thing. In our local town, there is city provided mandatory trash pickup. In the county there is no mandatory trash pickup, but there are burn laws. The entire county is covered by mandatory recycling.

Here's a good website regarding burn barrels and some good reasons why they should be outlawed, in my opinion, of course.

Burn Barrel Home Page