St. Paul City Council approves organized trash collection

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After 40+ years of homeowner’s choice, city will now decide who picks up your garbage and how much you pay

By JANE MCCLURE

A five-year contract for residential garbage collection in St. Paul means a new system could be in place as soon as October 2018. In some neighborhoods, it’s hoped that the change puts a lid on problems of trash illegally dumped in alleys and on private property.

But for other residents, organized collection means the end of sharing a trash can with neighbors. Some residents who generate little waste will see significant price increases. So will those who have lower collection contracts negotiated or who haul their own garbage away for disposal. Some residents’ costs will double and in some cases triple.

On a 5-2 vote on Nov. 8, the St. Paul City Council approved the contract with the city’ 15 residential trash haulers. That vote was delayed for a few weeks to allow for negotiations to wrap up. Had the haulers and city not reached an agreement, the city was prepared to issue a request for proposals. That could have meant only one or a few haulers serving the city.

“It’s taken a lot of work to get to today,” said St. Paul Director of Public Works Kathy Lantry. The contract took 14 months to hammer out, going through 10 drafts.

The contract will allow the city to be divided into areas, with haulers serving assigned areas based on their current market share. Areas haven’t been announced yet.

The city’s involvement in residential trash collection ended more than four decades ago. The push to look at organized collection came in part from Macalester-Groveland Community Council (MGCC). The district council obtained funding to conduct a study of the pros and cons of organized collection, starting in 2012-2013.

Sheila Sweeney was MGCC president during much of the study. She is among those who have raised concern that the newly adopted system needs to provide more incentive for people who have shared garbage cans with neighbors, and who generate little waste. Some City Council members said they’ll continue to push for ways to make sharing an option in the future.

The discrepancies in costs drove council members Dan Bostrom and Jane Prince to vote against the contract. Bostrom cited the significant cost impacts some residents will face and wondered if the city wouldn’t have been better off putting trash collection out for bid. He noted St. Paul residents will pay much more than neighboring suburbs with organized collection. “I can’t get my arms around that much of a discrepancy.”

Prince said she’d do all she can to support organized collection, but that she disagrees with aspects of the contract. She too is worried about the hike in rates for people who share a garbage can and generate little waste. Sharing isn’t an option under the current contract.

“For most people, the costs will go down,” said Ward Three Council Member Chris Tolbert. He said the wide discrepancies “weren’t right” and that there need to be fair prices across the city for trash collection. People have long been able to negotiate their rates, which means there isn’t consistency in what is paid.

“I know it’s been quite a process, and we appreciate you sticking with it,” Council President Russ Stark said before the vote. “It hasn’t been easy. No new system is going to be perfect.” But he said the negotiations provided the best deal possible for the city and will help address the quality of life issues around illegal dumping of trash.

Public Works staff said if organized collection cannot be implemented before winter weather strikes, it will be postponed to April 2019.

The 52-page contract outlines details of what residents can expect. It covers single-family homes and multi-family dwellings of up to four units. With county and state taxes added in the costs are $19.79 for every-other-week pickup of a 35-gallon cart, $22.85 for weekly 35-gallon cart collection, $32.03 for a 65-gallon cart and $34.15 for a large 95-gallon cart. There will be added charges ranging from $25 to $50 for walk-up service, with no charge for people with disabilities.

Overflow cost, for an extra bag by a cart, is $3 per pickup. Holiday/Christmas trees will be disposed of for free. Residents can also have three large or bulky items, such as furniture, picked up during the year.

Haulers will do the billing uniformly. The city and haulers will work together on public education and customer service. The city will own the carts, and the haulers will manage and repair them.

The intent is to have a neighborhood have its recycling and trash picked up on the same day. That addresses a longstanding concern about multiple large trucks traveling streets and alleys several days of the week.

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