Mac Kennedy Talks Trash.

Mac sent an e-blast to his circulation today.  He let us know that the proposal from our current solid waste contractor is to increase the yearly fee from $660 to $791 (20%) per household.  He then set out a collection of ways we could respond to this.  He did not advocate for any of them in particular, but just let us know what our choices are.

As a frame of reference, if we go back to 2014, and all the way before that, the Village had its own internal solid waste collection and removal program.  We underpaid our employees, had too many of them who were not productive, and at least in the decade or so before 2014, we couldn't keep trucks in proper working order, and not spewing stinking liquid all over the streets.  So, against resistance that was apparently louder than it was broad, we outsourced sanitation.  We got the then contractor to offer all of our sanitation workers a job, at more than we were paying them, we got much newer and not held together with spit and scotch tape trucks, and we saved money for each home.  (It's also worth noting that before about 2006, we did not have professional management -- Commissioners managed departments -- and our second professional manager did a massive clean-up of our clean-up department.  But still, outsourcing was better, cheaper, and more stable.)

The system held until recent years.  There were some complaints about the first contractor -- WastePro -- and enough grumbling to stimulate a search for a replacement.  That's how we got the second/current contractor, Great Waste.  As it turned out, it seemed everyone's costs had gone up, and not only did Great Waste charge us significantly more than did WastePro, but WastePro would have charged us significantly more, too.

But now, there's this massive-looking increase for the coming year, which led to Mac's e-blast and suggestions for what we can do about it.

One of Mac's suggestions was that we can stop including the "recycling" service, since it doesn't appear that recycling happens anyway.  If you've ever noticed that on Friday, either your recycling bin or your garbage bin gets picked up first, and the other gets picked up later, that's two separate runs of garbage trucks.  If we stopped pretending anything got recycled, we could reduce that to one run.  (If you want to continue the fantasy that our disposables get recycled, Mac points out we could do what "green" municipalities do, and leave it to each of us to deposit "recycling" at a central location, and the contractor can go only there to pick it up.)

Or, Mac points out that for his household, which is two people and a pet, the garbage container (the larger green one) doesn't get full more frequently than once every two weeks or so.  If I waited to fill mine, it would take longer than a month.  Maybe two.  (Although if we didn't pretend anything gets recycled, and I put my "recycling" in the larger garbage bin, it would take a month or maybe a little less to fill it.)  If enough people didn't need garbage to be picked up twice a week, we could have less frequent runs of garbage trucks, thereby saving at least the cost of the run.  Although Mac points out that the largest recent cost increase is caused by increased tipping fees (the cost of dumping the contents of the truck in a landfill, or wherever they dump it), and that will stay more or less the same whether it's small amounts frequently or large amounts infrequently.  The main variable is the weight.  But it does keep trucks off the road, and exhaust out of the atmosphere.

Mac points out that there is a more attention-getting way to lower the solid waste collection and removal fee, and that's to stop charging contractors a "franchise fee."  We charge everyone franchise fees to do business in the Village.  But Mac also reminds that if we don't charge Great Waste, let's say, the franchise fee, which would allow them to charge us less, since they're not going to turn around and give us back the money, then we deprive Village coffers of that revenue, which means we pay a higher tax.  So, our net, as homeowning check-writers, probably doesn't change, or not much.

This leaves us with one strategy Mac didn't mention: produce less garbage.  That means we buy things with less packaging, and don't waste what we buy.  I saw a statistic within the past year saying that we (at least in this country) throw away about 1/3 of the food we buy.  Go to the store more often, and buy what you need for the next day or so, eat what's on your plate, and eat leftovers.  Save "single-use" bagging, so it's not single use.  Use your own non-disposable bags when you go to the store, instead of coming home with lots of paper and plastic bags.

Mac sent out this e-blast because he wants us to think about this, participate in a Tuesday, June 5, Commission meeting at 5:00, and express an opinion.  The Commission will decide (we haven't had a competent manager since the end of 2016), but they'd like our input.  It's our money.  And our streets.  And our air.  And our future.