There is no opt-out option for applicable residents; however, the smallest bin option under PAYT (Super Saver) is priced comparably to taking two to three bags of trash for disposal every month, but with the convenience of curbside pick-up. The Super Saver is $10.80 per month and accommodates approximately two (2) tall kitchen garbage bags every two weeks. The contractor will provide a 32-gallon trash container that will be picked up every other week. With the Super Saver option, you have the option of a small, medium, or large single-stream recycling cart with every-other-week pick-up at no additional cost.
Further, accounts will be able to request temporary holds in service for a minimum of three and a maximum of four months once each calendar year.
Zooming out, let’s look at why we’re implementing the program this way –
With PAYT, we are treating waste and recycling services like any other utility to create a financially sustainable system. On your other utility bills, you will notice that there is a base fee you will pay even in a month where you may have used no water or electricity. This base fee exists to pay for the maintenance and operation of that utilities’ infrastructure which we must continue to maintain regardless of the individual level of use. Infrastructure that must be maintained to meet our waste and recycling needs includes everything from trash trucks, to landfill employees, to recycle centers, to processing equipment, to the permits required to manage waste – all of these things have a cost. Everyone in our community uses this infrastructure at some point in the waste management process and by having a tiered pricing system, we balance sharing the cost and requiring folks who produce the most waste to pay the most back to the system.
Under our new waste and recycling system, by starting smallest option at $10.80 per month, it allows us to provide basic trash and recycling pickup plus maintain all the waste and recycling services that our community desires. These services include our annual hazardous waste collection day, seasonal and weekend yard waste drop-offs in South Glenwood, free compost drop-off at the recycle center, and household battery recycling at the recycle center. Without a sustainable and holistic utility, we will not be able to continue these great free services.
Lastly, moving to this single-hauler system will have major benefits to Glenwood residents. It will mean:
- less truck traffic in town (safer streets, less exhaust fumes, protects neighborhood character)
- less damage to our streets (a single trip from a trash truck causes the same damage as 9,000 passenger vehicle tips on our roads)
- less greenhouse gas emissions (from trash trucks and individual trips for household disposal at the recycle center and landfill)
- more convenient access to recycling (curbside is part of every person’s service)
- better control and oversight of what happens to recycling (quarterly reports, contamination prevention)
- incentives to reduce overall waste (the less you waste, the less you spend)
- extending the life of our landfill (75% of the material we're throwing away could be recycled in existing recycling and composting programs)