On the council’s agenda for next Tuesday, October 13, is a recommendation from the Public Works Department to accept Peoria Disposal Company’s (PDC) bid of $5 million annually to collect solid waste, lawn waste, and recycling for the next five years. I did some analysis of the plan last month, but now I’d like to revisit the recycling portion.
First, there has been a new development. According to the most recent council communication, alley collection of recycling will be restored and protected:
If a customer currently places their refuse and landscape waste in their alley for collection then recyclables will be collected from the alley. If a customer currently places their refuse and landscape waste at the curb for collection then recyclables will be collected from the curb. Any changes in set out location will need to be approved in writing by the City during this agreement.
That’s great news! It will reverse a unilateral change in “set out location” (as they call it) by Waste Management, and is a big victory for older neighborhoods.
However, I think it might be helpful at this point to ask what the goal is in offering recycling collection. I’m not sure what it is, but I can tell you what it is not: it’s not to incentivize recycling. There are a couple of big disincentives to participating:
- Deposit of $50 for a 96-gallon Toter — Why is Toter rental necessary? It’s not. Consider the fact that you needn’t rent a Toter for refuse, nor do you need to rent a Toter for lawn waste. This means (a) they are capable of accommodating different kinds of waste containers, and (b) they are capable of distinguishing between one kind of waste and another. For the sake of argument, let’s presume that there is some justifiable need for a Toter — why does it need to be supplied by PDC? Why couldn’t a resident use a Toter he or she purchased at the store? Does PDC have Toter manufacture a special, proprietary design for PDC? There doesn’t appear to be any believable reason why a Toter must be rented to participate in recycling. It looks like an arbitrary requirement intended to disincentivize participation.
- Infrequency of collection (only once a month) — Given that your capacity is limited to one 96-gallon Toter for a month, how much recycling will you be able to do? Some, to be sure. But, if you have a large family (I have a family of five, for instance), and you’re serious about recycling (like my wife is), you’ll find that most of the waste coming out of your home is recyclable. In fact, we only have one garbage can of regular refuse each week, but fill up a 64-gallon Toter plus one or two smaller bins every other week. If collection goes to once a month, we’ll easily have more recycling than a 96-gallon Toter can hold. What are we supposed to do? Rent a second Toter, so now we’re up to a $100 fee to participate? Or just throw half our recyclables in the garbage, which has no restrictions? Either way, it’s fair to say there’s a pretty good incentive not to recycle.
Local environmental activist David Pittman recently sent me this information:
Peoria Heights has achieved a 50% participation rate with their curbside bi weekly residential recycling program within 6 months. People usually want to recycle if it is easy and convenient and free. Normal is around 40%. Elgin is nearly 60%. Springfield about 40%.
I doubt we’re going to see participation rates that high under the proposed contract. But his comment got me thinking: Why not bid out the recycling separately? That’s how Peoria Heights does it. G & O Disposal takes care of their refuse while Eagle Enterprises takes care of their recycling.
If we bid it out separately, we might get more bids on the recycling portion than just PDC and Waste Management (WM). Perhaps a company that wouldn’t be able to handle all of Peoria’s waste hauling needs could handle just one portion, if you are now considering to start recycling check cheap skip bin hire Melbourne.
Here’s one thing I don’t want to hear when this is discussed Tuesday night: “We can’t afford any more than this.” It’s inevitable that someone (possibly everyone) will argue that the current proposal should be accepted because (a) it’s the cheapest and (b) it fulfills all the criteria they wanted. While that’s true as far as it goes, it’s worth noting that if PDC had suggested once-a-month pickup of lawn waste, the council likely wouldn’t have approved it due to the inconvenience factor. So it will be interesting to hear how much of a priority the council gives to recycling.
Some might protest that it is a priority, but that we simply can’t afford a robust recycling program right now, given the dire economic crisis we’re facing. I would point out that the dire economic crisis is not stopping the council from raising taxes and handing the proceeds over to a private developer so he can build a downtown hotel. I know I’m starting to sound like a one-string fiddle here, but facts are facts. As long as they continue to pursue and defend this non-essential and risky hotel scheme, I’m not buying any argument that says we “can’t afford” this or that. We can afford it, if it’s a high enough priority.
Wasn’t the $50 fee a security deposit rather than rental, albeit I’m not sure that many people would actually lose their receptacle?
Yes there is no rental but a security deposit of $50 for a tote which is designed with a metal bar in the base so PDC trucks can hook a cable to it, the lip hinges to the truck and this allows the tote to be emptied without a man (or woman) actually lifting the tote. For Christ sake, you are offered recycling, such as it is, require a deposit, not a rental fee and people still complain. This whole post sounds anal retentive to me which is why nothing ever seems to get done in this town.
It looks like we are going to have garbage collection remain intact, offered some kind of recycling and we can leave it in the alley plus it saves the city money. What’s the problem?
Spikeless: Yes, it’s a deposit, not a rental. Thanks. I fixed the post.
So, you pay $50 when you start participating in the program, and you get it back … when? As long as you stay in the program, never. I appreciate that you can get it back if you move or decide you don’t want to recycle anymore (does that make it an incentive to stop recycling?), but really, why is it necessary in the first place? To protect against damage/loss of the Toter? Okay. How about if we supply our own? As Alex Trebek would say, “Oooh, sorry….”
Emtronics: I understand how Toters work. I also happen to know they work the same way whether they have the PDC logo on them or not. And why must they only be used for recycling? Is recycling heavier than other garbage? Is it bulkier than lawn waste? Why can it only be collected once a month? Because they don’t expect (or maybe don’t want) very much stuff recycled?
I believe I had good things to say about all parts of the package except the recycling — and even then I had good things to say about it being collected from the alley. I just think the recycling portion of the quote is weak, for the reasons specified. But thanks for your input.
CJ: What happens if you currently rent toters from WM if the PDC contract is approved? Early removal of a WM toter prior to your quarterly rental plan is $25.00 each. Ouch! Just asking if you know….. Thanks.
I guess as long as I live here I will never understand the town of Peoria. I lived in Iowa for a number of years and we had FREE recycling. We used the small totes that were provided FREE and it was picked up once a week just like the trash. The town I lived in felt it was a necessity to the wellbeing of the town and paid for it. There was no trash laying around or recyclables anywhere that were unsightly. This is a basic necessity not something that is window dressing. Peoria get your head on straight and get this trash and recycling stuff taken care of and pay for it. Enough of us homeowners pay enough in taxes to cover it if you stop wasting it on silly stuff like a bigger hotel, a skywalk, a museum, and numerous other unnecessary items on the budget.
A museum is silly stuff?!?!?!
Careful SD………………………..
Probably, I missed the bid amount that Waste Management submitted.
Waste Management staff have been very progressive with their pick up and disposal strategy. Also, the administrators have been actively involved, very much above and beyond the call of duty, to the city, and the Mayor’s city neighborhood and litter committee activities.
The benefit of this effort and dedication should justify the cost of retaining Waste Management.
I’m with Em — I doubt CJ would be happy no matter what was offered. Some folks are always looking for the nit to pick.
I imagine the toter is required for speed. Speed = money. Why a PDC toter? Who cares. If it is a refundable deposit, it isn’t like they are really making money. If you go out and buy a toter at WalMart, I imagine the cost is around $50. Of course, you can’t return it in 3 years and get your money back. So why not go with the PDC toter.
Thursday is my neighborhood’s pick-up day. I routinely walk my dog around the ‘hood every night. I can tell you from my eyewitness testimony that the average recycling household puts out one or two of those plastic bins. I bet those things hold 20 gallons each. You do the math — 95 gallons will be plenty for most houses. Get two if you think you’ll use more.
Services are not FREE, no matter SD says. This seems like a pretty reasonable proposal and meets virtually all of what I’d be looking for.
I agree that this proposed contract is perfect — if you don’t think recycling is all that important and needn’t be incentivized. It’s cheaper, maintains the status quo for current services, and throws in a token recycling component that will not attract many (if any) new participants.
You have no proof that it will attract no one. You just believe it won’t. It is much better than the current system by virtue of the fact that it doesn’t cost anything.
First, I said it will “not attract many (if any),” not “no one.” Secondly, you have no proof that it will attract anyone. Third, while it doesn’t technically cost anything since the Toter fee is refundable, you still have to put up $50 to participate, which will depress participation.
No one has yet explained why a Toter is necessary at all, given that it’s not required for refuse or lawn waste, nor why it may only be acquired from PDC.
Toter usage will speed up collection and provide a large container so it can be a longer interval between pickups. If it is stolen or dammaged will it be replaced? WM toters are replaced. I think PDC’s proposal is a good start. Let them run it and see how it goes. We rent now 2 toters one for waste and one for lawn waste, nice system and maintained if broken /stolen.