Two Opportunities to Talk Town Trash Hauling This Week
Tonight, the pay-as-you-throw trash proposal is on the Township Commitee agenda. On Thursday, Bob McCoy of the Environmental Advisory Committee will answer questions about the proposed hauling system.
With the chicken ordinance all wrapped up, the hottest topic in town is now the Pay-as-You-Throw trash proposal.
Tonight, the Township Committee — in a rare Monday night meeting to accommodate the N.J. League of Municipalities convention later this week — may be dominated by trash talk, with "Results of the Town Hall Meeting to discuss the garbage proposal" as one of the discussion items on the preliminary agenda. (The full agenda is attached here.)
On Thursday, Bob McCoy, Chairperson of Maplewood's Environmental Advisory Committee, will explain the town's proposal at the Hilton Neighborhood Association's November 17 meeting at 7:30 p.m. in DeHart Community Center, 120 Burnett Avenue.
The idea of pay-as-you-throw is that customers would throw their garbage out in special bags — or bags with special stickers. The bags or stickers would be purchased in stores or from the hauler. The cost of the bag covers the tipping fee — the actual cost of throwing out trash. Using this plan, "light users" would pay less for trash, and heavy users would be incentivized to do more recycling or composting to diminish the amount of trash they produce.
The town has also proposed going to a contract with a single hauler and bringing billing and administration of garbage under township control.
Frank Verderosa
11:48 am on Monday, November 14, 2011
At the risk of sounding ignorant- are these proposals for the entire town, or just those currently not on a plan with Waste Management? We currently pay quarterly for trash pickup from WM. It's been a great arrangement for the year or so that we've been in Maplewood.
Mary Mann
12:37 pm on Monday, November 14, 2011
Frank, currently the proposals are town wide.
Frank Verderosa
1:13 pm on Monday, November 14, 2011
Being fairly new to the area, I'm not sure I understand the need for a change. The current system has been working pretty well for us, and the WM service regarding monthly "large item pickups" has been fantastic. Sadly, I'm never home to attend the meetings to learn more- so thanks for repairing! Curious to see what the rest of the town thinks about all this.
Lindsay
3:17 pm on Monday, November 14, 2011
Everyone I have spoken with DOES NOT want to go to this new system. I believe that the town wants us to recycle more, that's fine, but I believe that that can be attained via better communication to the people about how/when/what to recycle. Also, they claim it will cost less, but this hasn't been proved. ALSO, and this really gets me, the town wants to collect an additional $25 "garbage fee" for a town garbage administrator. I think that is a slippery road and devious way to add a new money flow to town hall.
Janice McGowan
9:36 am on Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Based upon the information published in the News-Record (Oct 27), this new arrangement will cost considerably more for residents who are already trying to minimize their trash output. I have once-a-week pick-up from Waste Industries which costs a little under $68 per quarter or $272 annually. Using the minimum estimate provided in the article, my cost would go to $365; using the higher estimates, the cost could go as high as $495. In addition, we would have the inconvenience of getting and using specific bags. I LOVE my backyard pick-up and no-hassle service. This system would cause us to pay more to get less. And do not underestimate the value of competition between the two services now available to all residents. I'm all in favor of encouraging recycling and composting, but this proposal represents a significant cost increase for less service. I vote "NO".
Nick Muson
11:33 am on Tuesday, November 15, 2011
But it seems to me that, at its core, a house with 2 pails of garbage a week shouldn't have to pay the same as a house with 8, right? Discussing whether the new prices are too high is one thing, but it seems like a much fairer system in general.
Janice McGowan
10:07 am on Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Waste Industries provides a lower cost option for once-a-week pick-up for families with less trash and the cost is less than the numbers that I have seen so far for pay-as-you-throw. I am not interested in a system that charges everyone more. And what would happen to bulk pick-up service which the town has reduced drastically over the past few years?